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SERMONS 
AND ADDRESSES 



J;B. BRINEY 

AUTHOR OF 

The Form of Baptism," "Baptism and Remission 

of Sins," "Instrumental Music in Christiem 

Worship," "The Temptations 

of Christ," Etc. 




CINCINNATI 
THE STANDARD PUBLISHING COMPANY 






Copyright, 1922 
The Standard Publishing Company 



NOV 18 '22 

©Cl.A68r>915 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

The Foundation of Christian Hope 9 

Three Kingdoms of God 30 

The Holy Spirit 51 

What Must I Do to Be Saved? 73 

The Ministry of Angels 94 

Conversion _ 113 

The Intermediate State of the Dead 132 

Christianity Its Own Proof 152 

The New Heavens and the New Earth _ 173 

Christian Unity _ 193 

The Transfiguration of Christ 214 

Extremes Meet 234 

The Christian Race 257 

God's Precious and Exceeding Great Promises 278 

The Temptations of Christ 297 

The Bible 318 

The Inspiration of the Bible 340 

The Province of the Human Mind in Religion. 363 

The Bible and Science 386 

The Bible and Evolution „ 405 



I 



PREFACE 

THIS volume is the result of a purpose formed in 
my mind many years ago, and with reference to 
which I have largely shaped my reading and study. 
This purpose has been nourished and strengthened by 
numerous requests conveyed to me in various ways, 
both by individuals and groups of brethren whose 
wishes I have not felt at liberty to ignore. In these 
sermons and lectures I have aimed to conserve the 
results of the very best thinking I have been able to 
do upon the subjects treated, and transmit them to 
future generations, in the hope that, under the bless- 
ing of God, they may bear some humble part in 
promoting the truth as it is in Christ Jesus, and in 
extending the borders of the kingdom of God. The 
volume is sent forth to occupy any place which God, 
in His gracious providence, may prepare for it. 

J. B. Briney. 



THE FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIAN 
HOPE 

A SERMON 

Text. — "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, a 
conviction of things not seen. ' ' — Heb. 11 : 1. 

I HAVE combined in this text the renderings given 
in the Revised Version and the Common Version 
of the Scriptures. I make this combination because 
I believe it leads to the meaning of the passage more 
readily than either version taken singly. The Revised 
Version substitutes *' assurance" for "substance," and 
thereby, I humbly think, misses the idea the writer 
meant to convey. Faith is ''assurance," it is true, 
but in using the word here employed the writer is not 
defining faith, but is pointing out the relation of faith 
to something else, and definition comes a little later, 
as will presently appear. 

In pretty much every passage of Scripture there 
are two or three words that may be regarded as key- 
words — words whose meaning unlocks the passage as 
a whole, and causes it to yield up its import to the 
student; and, in the study of a given passage, the 
first thing to do is to locate such words and discover 
their meaning. Unless this is done, any effort to 
ascertain the significance of the passage as a whole is 
like beating the air. Our text contains two key- 
words, the first of which is the term ''substance," 

9 



10 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

and onr first exegetical task is to ascertain the import 
of that term. In the performance of this task we 
must resort to etymology. A living language is 
always in a state of fluctuation, old words becoming 
obsolete and dropping out of use, and new terms 
coming into use to express new ideas. Telegraph, 
telephone, phonogi'aph, automobile, aeroplane, and the 
like, are comparatively new words invented to express 
the new ideas that they embrace. 

The word ** substance, " as employed in our text, 
is not to be taken in the sense in which it is com- 
monly used at the present time. As we now use the 
term it means the material part or parts of some- 
thing. For instance, when we say that the substance 
of a document is so and so, we mean its salient points. 
Now, of course, faith is not the substance of things 
hoped for in this modem sense of the term, for that 
would make faith itself the essential part of things 
hoped for, which would be out of the question. Here 
etymology comes to our relief and solves the problem. 
The word ''substance" is made up of two Latin 
terms — ^the preposition sub, which means ** under," 
and the verb stare, wliich means "to stand." When 
combined, the resultant word ''substance" means that 
something is standing under something else as a sup- 
port. This idea is contained in all those words into 
whose composition the particle sub enters. The farmer 
talks about a "sub-soil," by which he means a 
stratum of soil lying just beneath the surface; the 
builder talks about a "sub-sill," by which he 
means a support for another s^ill; the financier 
talks about a "sub-treasury," by which he means 
a kind of sinking fund set apart to sustain the main 
treasury in cases of emergency. I am quite sure that 



FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIAN HOPE 11 

our word '^foundation" is the term that we need in 
our text to exactly express the thought that the 
writer intended to convey. Here is the idea: ''Now 
faith is the foundation of things hoped for." This 
makes hope concrete in the things that it lays hold 
upon. If it were put in the abstract, it would stand 
thus: "Now faith is the foundation of hope." But I 
have been reminded that my exegesis is based upon 
the Latin, while the text was written in Greek, but 
the etymology of the Greek is precisely the same as 
the Latin. The Greek word is Jiupostasis, which is 
composed of the preposition Jiiipo, which means 
"under," and the verb Jiisteemi, which means "to 
stand." Hence we reach the same conclusion through 
the Greek that we reach through the Latin, that 
"faith is the foundation of hope." 

Now, this is a general principle that applies to 
aU the relations and enterprises of human society. It 
applies to domestic life. A young man and a young 
woman fall in love with each other, and become 
engaged to be married. Hope paints their future in 
brilliant colors, and they promise themselves a life 
of happiness in the marriage relation. Upon what 
does their hope rest? What is it that in their hearts 
supports the fond anticipations that thrill their souls? 
It is their mutual faith. They believe in each other. 
Each believes that the other will be true to the solemn 
vows to be taken at the marriage altar, and as long 
as their faith stands firm their hope remains unshaken. 
If, however, in an evil hour one should lose faith in 
the other, or if perchance the loss of faith should be 
mutual, hope would become unsteady and by and by 
depart, leaving a family in ruins. This applies to 
the business walks of life. A capitalist invests his 



12 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

money in a given enterprise because he believes in it. 
He hopes for returns from his investment because of 
his faith. But if he should become convinced that 
the enterprise is a failure, his faith would fail and he 
would lose all hope of profit. *' Faith is the founda- 
tion of hope" always and in everything. 

Now, Paul takes this general principle and gives it 
a special application to the circle of religious life and 
experience. Here, as well as everywhere else, ''faith 
is the foundation of hope," and without faith there 
can be no such thing as hope in the true and Scrip- 
tural sense. Without faith in Jesus and the resurrec- 
tion the hope of immortality and eternal life is impos- 
sible. I know that a celebrated apostle of agnosticism 
once, in delivering a funeral oration over the remains 
of a child of his friend, made this statement: ''We, 
too, have our religion, and it is help for the living 
and hope for the dead." In the first place, it may 
be remarked that this is a bald plagiarism upon the 
gospel of the Son of God, for "help for the living 
and hope for the dead" are cardinal items of the 
Christian religion. In giving some of the events of 
the day of judgment the great Teacher says: "Then 
shall the King say unto them on his right hand. 
Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom 
prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 
for I was hungry, and ye gave me to eat; I was 
thirsty, and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger, and 
ye took me in; naked, and ye clothed me; I was sick, 
and ye visited me; I was in prison, and ye came unto 
me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, 
Lord, when saw we thee hungry, and fed thee? or 
athirst, and gave thee drink? And when saw we 
thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and 



FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIAN HOPE 13 

clothed thee? And when saw we thee sick, or in 
prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall 
answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, 
Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of these my brethren, 
even these least, ye did it unto me. Then shall he 
say also unto them on his left hand, Depart from me, 
ye cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared 
for the devil and his angels: for I was hungry, and 
ye did not give me to eat; I was thirsty, and ye gave 
me no drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me not 
in; naked, and ye clothed me not; sick, and in prison, 
and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer, 
saying. Lord, when saw we thee hungry, or athirst, 
or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did 
not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, 
saying. Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it 
not unto one of these least, ye did it not unto me. 
And these shall go away into eternal punishment: but 
the righteous into eternal life" (Matt. 25:34-46). 
Where do you find such teaching as this outside the 
glorious gospel of God's dear Son, or doctrine inspired 
by that gospel? This is ''help for the living" sure 
enough. And the same gospel holds out "hope for the 
dead" most abundantly. 

But when the agnostic orator just referred to says 
that he and his fellow skeptics "have hope for the 
dead," he practices upon himself and his friends the 
fallacy of construing a single element of hope as hope 
itself. Hope is made up of two essential factors; 
namely, desire and reasonable expectation. Now, the 
desire to live forever seems to be indigenous to the 
human heart. We naturally shrink from death, and 
cling to life with marvelous tenacity. We want to 
live on and on and on to all eternity. This desire 



14 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

burns in the breast of an infidel the same as in the 
soul of a Christian, but the infidel can have no hope 
of immortality and eternal life, because he has no 
reasonable expectation, for reasonable expectation de- 
pends upon a reasonable promise. I might desire to 
own a gold mine, but I have no hope of ever coming 
into possession of such a treasure, because I have no 
reasonable expectation in that regard. If I were 
away from home, and were to receive a telegram 
informing me that a member of my family is lying 
at the point of death, I would start home expecting 
to find such a condition of things, but not hoping it, 
because not desiring it. In the former case desire 
was present, but reasonable expectation was absent, 
and hence there was no hope. In the latter case 
expectation was present, but desire was absent, and 
hence there was no hope. Hope is a child bom of the 
union of desire and reasonable expectation in the 
human heart, desire being instinctive in the heart, 
and reasonable expectation springing from a reason- 
able promise; and with this agrees the proposition 
that * 'faith is the foundation of hope.'* 

But faith is more than this, and here comes in the 
second division of our text; namely, that faith is 
** conviction of things not seen." This gives us clear, 
distinct and specific definition. Notice the forceful- 
ness of the defining term here employed: Faith is 
conviction of things not seen. ** Conviction" is one of 
the most energetic words known to human speech. 
The original word {elengchos) was applied by the 
Greeks to military affairs, and indicated a struggle 
between opposing armies. Faith is not a mere nod of 
assent to the truth — a mere consent that a proposition 
is correct. In religion it is the moral dynamo that 



FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIAN HOPE 15 

drives aU the machinery of the life of the believer, 
and brings it into perfect harmony with the will 
of Him in whom faith is exercised. Its language is, 
** Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth," and it 
inspires the believer to sing: 

** Through floods and flames, if Jesus leads, 
I'll follow where He goes." 

The ear of faith is always attentive to the divine 
mandate, no odds what it may be. If you find a man 
hesitating in the presence of a command of God, and 
wondering if he can't be saved without complying 
with it, you find a man whose faith is defective. He 
has not that faith which is conviction. 

Here, then, is Paul's thesis, **Now faith is the 
foundation of hope, a conviction of things not seen," 
and a great thesis it is; and in its light the remainder 
of the chapter must be read to be understood, for it 
is made up of illustrations of the principles embraced 
in the thesis. The remainder of this discourse will 
be given to an inspection of some of these wonderful, 
interesting and instructive illustrations of the apos- 
tle's thesis. 

1, *^By faith we understand that the worlds have 
been framed by the word of God." For a long time 
the ancient philosophers were perplexed by the prob- 
lem of origins — how things as they saw them got 
started. They looked out upon the starry heavens 
and beheld multitudes of the most wonderful phe- 
nomena on every hand. They saw myriads of suns, 
stars and moons as they adorned the outlying heavens 
with attractive glory, and wondered whence they 
came; and no satisfactory answer was found till a 
man of God picked up his pen, dipped it in the ink 



16 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

of inspiration, and wrote: "In the beginning God 
created the heavens and the earth.'' This short, but 
comprehensive, statement solved the problem in a most 
satisfying manner, and it enables men to say, by that 
faith which comes by the word of God, that that is 
just how it was. 

2. ''By faith Abel offered unto God a more excel- 
lent sacrifice than Cain, through which he had witness 
borne to him that he was righteous, God bearing 
witness in respect of his gifts: and through it he 
being dead yet speaketh" (verse 4). It is more than 
probable that the word ''excellent" has no legitimate 
place in this passage. It is difficult to see how an 
animal as a sacrifice to God could be *'more excellent" 
than an offering consisting of the "firstfruits of the 
ground." "More excellent" is the rendering of the 
single word pleiona, and the very first meaning that 
Thayer's "Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testa- 
ment" gives of this term is ^^more." "More excellent" 
is given under "2" in the definition, and there the 
lexicon says, "followed by the genitive of compari- 
son," which is not the construction in the passage 
now before us. Here it is followed by tJiusian 
(sacrifice), in the accusative, and hence it does not 
come under Thayer's rule. The "Greek Lexicon" of 
Liddell and Scott does not give "more excellent" as 
a meaning of this word at all, and it not only does 
not belong in this passage, but its presence obscures 
the sense and force of this Scripture. 

Exactly what the passage says is that "Abel offered 
unto God more sacrifice than Cain," and this embodies 
a great and fundamental principle in the divine 
economy. God required two offerings — one as a 
thank-offering, and the other as a sin-offering — and 



FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIAN HOPE 17 

here is where Cain made his fatal blunder. He made 
his reason, and not the will of G-od, his guide in the 
matter. I do not suppose he was a German, but he 
was the father of what is now called ''German ration- 
alism." He could see from the standpoint of reason 
that it would be appropriate to make a thank-ofPering 
to God of the fruits of the ground, for God caused 
their growth. But from that point of view he could 
not see why he should kill an innocent animal and 
offer it as a sacrifice for his sins. That the blood of 
such an animal could make an atonement for his sins 
was a proposition that he could not reason out, and 
where the light of reason failed him, there he stopped 
and made shipwreck of himself. Here is where 
rationalism has broken with God all along the line 
of His dealings with the children of men, from the 
time of Cain down to the days of modern Unitarian- 
ism, which denies that there is any efficacy in the 
blood of Christ to atone for the sins of men. 

Instead of being a rationalist, Abel was a man of 
faith, and made the mil of God the standard of his 
conduct, and hence he made the two offerings that 
the will of God demanded. His heart was swelling 
with gratitude to God, whom he recognized as the 
giver of every good and perfect gift, and when Jeho- 
vah told him to express his gratitude in a thank- 
offering, he responded most joyously. But he knew 
that he was a sinner, and longed to get rid of his 
sins, and when the Lord told him to slay an animal 
and offer it in sacrifice for his sins, he made haste 
and delayed not to comply with the holy command- 
ment, without stopping to reason about the matter. 
So men of faith always do. That he made more than 
one offering is manifest from the statement that God 



18 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

bore ''witness in respect of his gifts/' Thus thii 
man of faith, though he be dead, **yet speaketh,** and 
in his speaking he says to the children of men, 
''Always do just what God says and all that he 
says,'' and this every man of faith will do whether 
he can understand all the whys and wherefores or not. 

3. **By faith Noah, being warned of God concern- 
ing things not seen as j^et, moved with godly fear, 
prepared an ark to the saving of his house; through 
which he condemned the world, and became heir of the 
righteousness which is according to faith'' (verse 7). 
This is a most beautiful and instructive illustration of 
Paul 's great thesis that * ' faith is the foundation of hope, 
a conviction of things not seen." Noah was ''warned 
of God concerning things not seen as yet," and, 
although he did not see them, his faith made him as 
sure that they would come to pass in due time, as 
if he had already seen them. A good, practical, con- 
crete definition of faith would be, "It is taking 
God at His word." Faith is valueless without action 
that makes it visible. Some people took a sick friend 
to our Saviour when he was on earth, and when they 
could not get into the house where the Healer was, 
on account of the dense crowd that was gathered 
about the doorway, they made their way to the top 
of the building, removed a part of the covering, and 
lowered the sick man into the presence of the Master, 
and Jesus, "seeing their faith, saith unto the sick of 
the palsy, Son, thy sins are forgiven." These 
friends of the sick man showed their faith by their 
works, and that is what people who have genuine, 
living faith will always do. 

"By faith Noah, being warned of God of things 
not seen as yet, moved with godly fear," etc. Noah 



FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIAN HOPE 19 

had a living, energetic faith that moved him to action, 
as that faith which amounts to conviction always does. 
Faith is a dynamic force that puts the machinery of 
mind, heart and body in motion, and subordinates it 
entirely to the will of the almighty One. Noah pre- 
pared an ark because that is what God told him to 
do. A rationalist might have done differently. He 
might have said: ''Well, I think there is a better 
way of escape than that. Here is an abundance of 
stones at hand, and, instead of building a boat, in my 
judgment I think we had better build a great pyramid 
whose top shall reach above the water-line, and take 
refuge upon that when the flood comes." If Noah 
had done something like this, he would have con- 
demned himself with the rest of mankind. But, being 
a man of faith, he took the plans and specifications 
given him by the Lord, and built an ark, adhering 
strictly to his divine instructions. God had told him 
how long, wide and high to make it, how many stories 
to put in it, and how many openings it should have. 
He was given specific instruction as to the materials 
he should use in the construction of the ark, and what 
to take into it with him. Noah proceeded according 
to his instructions and hewed to the line in every 
particular, without the least deviation, and therein 
was his safety. Here is a good lesson for our ''open 
membership" brethren. 

"Through which he condemned the world, and 
became heir of the righteousness which is according 
to faith." This man of faith not only saved himself 
and his family by obeying God in building the ark, 
but he abandoned the world to the condemnation that 
it incurred by its vnckedness, and became heir of the 
righteousness which is according to faith. He was not 



20 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

an heir of this righteousness before he built the ark, 
although he was a believer before that. From this we 
see that faith alone does not secure the righteousness 
which is ''according to faith," and this is a very 
important point in this illustration. It requires the 
obedience of faith to bring about such a result, and 
the believer can not claim this gracious blessing till 
he obeys God in all the appointments He has enjoined 
upon him. Faith may be said to be the enabling act, 
or the act that enables one to become something that 
he was not before. Noah's faith enabled him to 
become heir of the righteousness which is "according 
to faith," and without the building of the ark he 
would not have become such an heir. The following 
Scripture is very pertinent at this point: "He 
[Christ] came unto his own, and they that were his 
own received him not. But as many as received him, 
to them gave he the right to become children of God, 
even to them that believe on his name" (John 1:11, 
12). From this passage it is plain that faith does 
not make a man a child of God, but only gives him 
the right, or the moral power, to become such; and 
when he shows his faith by doing what God enjoins 
upon him, he becomes what his faith gave him the 
right to become — a child of God. 

4. "By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed 
to go out unto a place which he was to receive for 
an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing whither 
he went." Here is a most brilliant example of walk- 
ing by faith. The presumption is that Abraham knew 
nothing about the land he was to receive as an inher- 
itance, but God promised him such an inheritance, 
and he believed God, and his faith was a conviction 
that controlled him in the matter. He had a convic- 



FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIAN HOPE 21 

tion of things not seen, and his faith was a founda- 
tion of his hope that they would come into his posses- 
sion. *'By faith Abraham obeyed to go out." Of 
course, for that is what genuine faith always prompts 
the believer to do. He only waits to know what the 
wiU of the Lord is, and as soon as he obtains this 
knowledge, he bows in humble submission to the divine 
behest, no odds what it may be. 

*'And he went out, not knowing whither he went." 
What a marvelous example of faith this is! Would 
you, would I, have been equal to the occasion? Here 
is a man who is commanded to leave his country and 
his kin, his neighbors and friends, and go into a 
country that he knew not of. But this wonderful 
man, having the faith which is ''conviction of things 
not seen," hesitated not one moment, but immediately 
arose and, tearing himself away from the associations 
of his youth and early manhood, started upon a 
journey whose end he knew not. That's faith for 
you! Sometimes you will find a man who says: 
**Well, there are so many things concerning God and 
the Bible that I do not understand. If I could see 
the end from the beginning, I would not hesitate to 
start to the promised land." Yes, but you would not 
start by faith, but by sight, by reason. The very 
highest plane upon which the drama of life can be 
enacted is the plane of faith, and we receive most 
of our information through faith. It is thus that 
we attain a knowledge of the facts of history, of 
science and of philosophy. The circle of our absolute 
knowledge is very narrow, and but for faith our 
stock of information would be limited indeed. 

And it is also true that we accept and act upon 
many things that we do not understand. I do not 



22 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

understand how my physical system takes the food 
that I eat and turns it into bone, muscle, nerve, 
brain, hair. But I am not going to refuse to eat 
because I can not understand the mysterious processes 
of nature in building up my body. I hold in my 
hand an object that is called an egg. Subject it to 
a certain degree of heat for twenty-one days, and it 
is a chicken. Now, I do not understand how that 
change is brought about, but I am not going to refuse 
to eat the chicken because of this lack of understand- 
ing. It is God's business to make chickens, and it is 
my privilege to eat them, and I must function on my 
side of the line, and let God take care of the things 
on His side. Take a young peach-tree and place its 
roots in the ground, cut off the twig and engraft the 
bud of a plum. When the tree resulting therefrom 
goes to bearing fruit you will witness some strange 
phenomena. The roots of that tree are peach, and 
they go to work to select materials from the soil to 
make peaches, for that is the business of peach-tree 
roots, and they attend strictly to their own business. 
But the body of that tree takes the materials that 
the roots selected to make peaches and turns them 
into plums. Now, I don't know how that is done, 
but I know what to do with the plum, and I am not 
going to decline to eat it because I do not know how 
it was made. 

But he who would refuse to eat chickens and plums 
because he does not understand how they are made, 
would be no more lacking in common sense than he 
who refuses to accept salvation through the gospel 
because the process involves things that he does not 
understand. Indeed, we might reasonably expect to 
find mysteries in this sphere, but they are on God's 



FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIAN HOPE 23 

side of the line, and we can well afford to leave them 
in His hands, as we do in the domain of nature. The 
things that are on our side of this line are very plain, 
and it is our business to attend to them, and if we 
do that we will have our hands full. Suppose I do 
not understand all about the virgin birth of Christ, 
shall I reject the well-authenticated fact because my 
poor, finite mind can not grasp and comprehend the 
profoundest and deepest things of God? You need 
not go to the virgin birth of Jesus to find mysteries, 
for they are involved in every birth that takes place 
in this world, and no man can understand or explain 
them. We live and move and have our being among 
mysteries, and if we start out to reject whatever we 
can not understand, we will have to discard pretty 
much everything in heaven and on earth, including 
our own existence! 

5. "By faith Abraham, being tried, offered up 
Isaac : yea, he that had gladly received the promises 
was offering up his only begotten son; even he to 
whom it was said. In Isaac shall thy seed be caUed: 
accounting that God is able to raise up, even from 
the dead; from whence he did also in a figure receive 
him back'* (verses 17-19). Among all the victories of 
faith known to human history, perhaps a brighter 
example than this can not be found, and with profit 
and delight we may dwell upon it. When Abraham 
was about seventy-five years old, and Sarah, his 
beloved wife, about sixty-five, God promised them that 
a son should be born to them. Time passed on, and 
months multiplied themselves into years, and the 
coming of the promised boy was delayed. Abraham, 
however, did not despair, but lived on in hope whose 
foundation was faith in God, who made the promise. 



24 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

The redemption of the promise came when Abraham 
was about a hundred years old, and Sarah about 
ninety, and a baby boy came into their tent. It was 
a day and an occasion of joy, and they called the 
baby Isaac, which means ''laughter." He was the 
life, the light and the hope of his parents and of the 
world, for in him were all the families of the earth 
to be blessed. 

The child grew into a fine specimen of splendid 
boyhood, and was the delight of parental eyes and 
the idol of parental hearts. But when he was in his 
teens a strange and trying thing occurred. God 
appeared to Abraham and said: ''Take now thy son, 
thine only son, whom thou lovest, even Isaac, and get 
thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for 
a burnt-offering upon one of the mountains which I 
will tell thee of.'' Was ever another mortal man put 
to such a test? Could any other mortal man have 
endured the trial? Abraham must take this son of 
his old age and of his love, this child of promise and 
of hope, and slay him with his own hand, and bum 
him as an offering to God! "Hear, heavens, and 
give ear, earth." But Abraham staggered not 
through unbelief, neither did he rebel against the 
command of his Lord and Master. So one morning, 
as I imagine, he was astir betimes, and, arousing Isaac 
from his sweet morning repose, and selecting two 
trusty servants to accompany him upon his melancholy 
journey, he stole away in the early twilight, with- 
out letting Sarah know the purpose of his going. If 
she had known that her husband was going to take 
her boy way off into the wilderness, and kill him and 
bum -his body, there would have been some scenes 
in and about that tent that morning. Her motherly 



FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIAN HOPE 25 

instincts would have thrown her between her child 
and his father, and with tears in her eyes and 
emotion in her voice she would have plead for the 
life of her darling boy. ''Abraham,'* she would have 
said, ''are you going to tear my only child from my 
bosom, take him a three days' journey from home, 
and with your own hand slay and burn him? Abra- 
ham, you are beside yourself! Abraham, you must 
not do it!" So, to avoid such an additional trial, as I 
suppose, he quietly started upon his journey, leaving 
Sarah in blissful ignorance of the terrible task he had 
in hand. 

What emotions, like the billows of a mighty ocean, 
must have surged to and fro in his heart as he pur- 
sued his mournful journey toward the fatal spot 
where he was to enact the greatest tragedy, save one, 
known to human history! Could he sleep at night? 
Or did the shadow of coming events drive nature's 
sweet restorer from his eyes, and leave him to spend 
the livelong night in fearful forebodings as to what 
was to take place in the land of Moriah? Or if a 
little fitful, troubled sleep was his portion, did it 
cause him horrible dreams of a struggling boy, of 
flowing blood, and of ascending smoke from the altar 
upon which he was to burn his child t But on he 
went, and some time during the third day's travel a 
range of mountains began to jut above the horizon, 
and by and by the range begins to break up into 
individual peaks, till one peak stands out to itself in 
bold relief; and God says, "Abraham, that's the 
place." Is not this enough to break the heart of even 
this hero of faith? 

But Abraham braces himself for the final ordeal, 
and begins to make preparation for the climax of the 



26 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

fearful experiences that he is undergoing. For the 
game reason that he stole away from home, as I 
imagine, he left the servants at the foot of the moun- 
tain while he took the lad and started up the hill to 
perform the finishing act of the trying series. If 
those faithful servants had been present when Abra- 
ham began to bind Isaac preparatory to slaying him, 
they would have interfered to prevent the tragedy. 
They would have said: ''Abraham, our mistress will 
expect us to return her boy to her safe and sound, 
and we can not go back to her without him. Abra- 
ham, you must not do this." So, to avoid such a 
complication, he left the young men behind, while he 
and the boy went up the mountain alone. Is Abra- 
ham's heart serene and quiet? or does it palpitate 
with tumultuous palpitation? Let any loving father 
answer. With his own hands Abraham builds the 
altar and lays the wood thereupon, and now comes 
this heart-breaking question from the precious lad: 
** Behold, the fire and the wood: but where is the 
lamb for a burnt-offering?" This query must have 
gone like a knife to the very soul of this man of 
God as he stood there and gazed fondly upon his 
son whose life he, as he supposed, was about to take. 
With quivering voice Abraham makes answer, 
**God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt- 
ofPering, my son," probably speaking wiser than he 
knew. And now comes the crucial test. Abraham 
binds his son, his son Isaac, and lays him upon the 
wood upon the altar, and stretches forth his hand, and 
takes the knife to slay his son! What a scene for 
men and angels to look upon! There stands a father 
over his son with knife in hand ready to bury it in 
some vital part of the child's body — ^a scene that is 



FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIAN HOPE 27 

calculated to diallenge the akiU. of the most expert 
painter that ever wielded an artist's brush. And 
here the attitude of Isaac elicits attention. He was a 
stout, athletic boy, and could have broken away from 
his father and made his escape. But as soon as he 
discovers his father's purpose he falls into the scheme 
and willingly permits himself to be offered up as a 
burnt-offering. What a beautiful and appropriate 
type of Him who, some two thousand years later, and 
near the same spot, offered himself as a sacrifice for 
the sins of the world. The knife is lifted, and gleams 
in the sunlight that is bathing the top of Mount 
Moriah in a sheen of glory, but before it has time 
to do its bloody work a voice is heard from on high, 
saying: *' Abraham, Abraham, . . . lay not thy hand 
upon the lad, neither do thou anything to him: for 
now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast 
not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me." 
Words are inadequate to describe the feelings of relief 
and gratitude that this message must have sent into the 
heart of faithful Abraham. In his wild delight he 
''lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold, behind 
him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns: and 
Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him 
for a burnt-offering in the stead of his son." Here 
we have another striking type of the substitutionary 
sacrifice that Christ made for the children of men. 
What was it that sustained Abraham throughout 
this dreadful ordeal? It was his hope which was 
supported by his faith in the promise of God that 
Isaac would live and have a posterity in which all 
the families of the earth should be blessed. His faith 
was a conviction that mastered him thoroughly, and 
never did he stagger through unbelief. It was his 



28 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

fixed purpose to slay his son and burn his body, but 
he believed that God would raise him from the dead, 
and redeem the promises that He had made concern- 
ing him. From the time when the Lord commanded 
him to make a burnt-offering of Isaac, to the time 
when God stayed his hand, he was ''accounting that 
God is able to raise him up, even from the dead; 
from whence he did also in a figure receive him 
back/' It is not at all astonishing that this remark- 
able man is called in Scripture "the friend of God, 
and the father of the faithful." His conduct marked 
him for such distinction, and right nobly does he 
wear the honor as a crown of glory. Of all the 
heroes of earth, not one surpasses Abraham in point 
of fidelity to convictions of duty, and he will continue 
to stand at the head of his class till the end of time. 
And what supported Abraham in his pilgrimage 
in this world, and gave him the victory over all his 
trials, is what sustains all the people of God in all 
ages as they trudge along the pathway of life, and 
encounter trials, difficulties and temptations that 
would be overwhelming but for the "exceeding great 
and precious promises" of - Him whose they are, and 
whom they serve. This blessed heritage of the chil- 
dren of God is what sustained martyrs when their 
flesh was being roasted in the flames of diabolical 
persecution, and enabled them to sing songs of joy 
in the hour of the most excruciating pain. This 
legacy of that faith which is the foundation of hope 
is the richest and most precious possession that men 
and women can have in this world, and it should be 
guarded with the utmost care and vigilance. Allow 
no philosophy, no speculation, no criticism, to shake 
your faith in God or in His word. The Bible and 



FOUNDATION OP CHRISTIAN HOPE 29 

its promises have been the stay of men and women 
from time immemorial, giving them strength and con- 
solation in life, and assurance and hope in death. 
They really inspire weary pilgrims to sing, **We are 
going up the valley toward the rising sun,'* instead 
of, **"We are going down the valley toward the setting 
sun/' Truly ^^ faith is the foundation of hope, a 
conviction of things not seen,'' 



THREE KINGDOMS OF GOD 

A SERMON 

Text. — ** Wherefore, brethren, givo the more diligence to 
make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, 
ye shall never stumble: for thus shall be richly supplied unto 
you the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and 
Saviour Jesus Christ.*'— 2 Pet. 1:10, 11. 

IN the fullness of His grace and benevolence God 
has provided three kingdoms for the enjoyment 
and salvation of the children of men. These king- 
doms may severally be denominated the kingdom of 
nature, the kingdom of grace and the kingdom of 
glory, and each of these kingdoms, according to 
divine arrangement, is entered by means of a birth, 
and each has its own peculiar blessings and salvation, 
although some blessings are common to them alL 

The Kingdom of Nature. 

Into this kingdom we enter when we are bom into 
this world, and we then enter upon the enjoyment 
of its blessings and salvation which consist of the 
mercies and favors that come into our lives through 
the providence of God. In this kingdom we ''live 
and move and have our being" in God, from whom 
comes every "good gift and every perfect boon" that 
we enjoy from day to day, and we find enough here 
to lay us under weighty obligation to take God into 
our lives and recognize Him in aU our ways. It is 

80 



THREE KINGDOMS OF GOD 31 

a very grave mistake to suppose that our only obliga- 
tion to the heavenly Father grows out of the provision 
that He has made for our salvation from sin through 
the atoning blood of His Son. We may set this aside 
for the moment, and still there is enough left of His 
goodness to cause us to call upon our "souls and all 
that is within us" to praise and magnify His holy 
name. The stars that twinkle above us by night, and 
the sun that shines by day; the tiny dewdrop that 
glistens in the morning sun, and the placid lake upon 
whose bosom floats the graceful swan; the rippling 
brook that irrigates meadow and heath, and the roU- 
ing river that carries the world's commerce on its way 
to market; the tinted rose that delights the eye, and 
the ripening com that satisfies hunger; the dry land 
that supplies seed to the sower and bread to the eater, 
and the mighty ocean that sends up its vapor to 
moisten the earth that it may bring forth its har- 
vests; the strength of body that enables us to attend 
to the daily duties of life, and the intelligence of 
mind that qualifies us to properly direct the affairs 
of our several vocations; the clothing that we wear 
by day, and the couches upon which we rest our 
weary bodies by night — all these blessings, and a 
thousand others, call upon us to look up to God 
with praise and gratitude in our hearts, and adore 
Him for that kind providence that saves us from 
death day by day, and satisfies our every real need. 
The salvation of this kingdom is a universal salva- 
tion, as is explicitly taught in the following Scripture: 
"For this end we labor and strive, because we have 
our hope set on the living God, who is the Saviour 
of all men, specially of them that believe" (1 Tim. 
4:10). Two salvations are here mentioned — one gen- 



32 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

eral, and the other special. "All men'* partake of 
the general salvation which belongs to the kingdom 
of nature, and from this viewpoint the doctrine of 
universal salvation is true and Scriptural, and in that 
fact we have great reason to rejoice, and praise our 
good Father above. "Day unto day uttereth speech, 
and night unto night showeth knowledge'* concerning 
the goodness and philanthropy of God in His dealings 
with the children of earth, and he must be very 
thoughtless or very hard-hearted who can constantly 
partake of all of His benefits, and at the same time 
ignore and forget their gracious Giver. Anciently 
God laid in this complaint against His people: "Hear, 
heavens, and give ear, earth: for the Lord hath 
spoken ; I have nourished and brought up children, 
and they have rebelled against me. The ox knoweth 
his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel 
doth not know, my people doth not consider" (Isa. 
1:2, 3). One of the saddest features of our weak 
humanity is its liability to forget God, and disregard 
Him in the ongoings of our lives. Men might prof- 
itably make the ox and the ass their teachers in this 
regard. If beasts of burden show signs of dependence 
upon their benefactors, and manifest indications of 
gratitude to those who provide for their wants, should 
not man, who ranks himself far above animals that 
are governed by instinct, and who prides himself 
upon his intelligence, feel and exhibit gratitude to 
Him who so richly supplies him with every needed 
blessing? "How like a serpent's tooth is an ungrate- 
ful child," some one has said, and the saying is 
based upon the experience of many parents. Men 
should be grateful to God for his fatherly care and 
protection, just as children should be grateful to their 



THREE KINGDOMS OF GOD 33 

earthly parents from the same point of view. The 
kingdom of nature rules over all, and all are par- 
takers of its blessings and salvation. 

The Kingdom of Grace. 

The kingdom of nature makes no provision for the 
forgiveness of sin, and whoever violates a law of that 
kingdom must pay the penalty sooner or later, and 
there is no escape. A violation of the laws of health 
brings on sickness, and if you leap from a precipice 
you suffer the penalty of bruised muscles and broken 
bones. It is the kingdom of grace that provides for 
the remission of sins, and he who would enjoy the 
blessing of forgiveness, must seek it under the laws 
which pertain to that kingdom. In other words, a 
sinner who would secure the blessing of the remission 
of his sins, must enter into the gracious kingdom that 
provides for this important event. And this kingdom, 
too, is entered by means of a birth, according to the 
plain teaching of Jesus, the King of this kingdom. 
One night in Jerusalem a ruler of the Jews, Nico- 
demus by name, came to the Saviour for a private 
conference upon things pertaining to the new king- 
dom that was approaching. He introduced the con- 
versation in a very patronizing way, by saying: 
''Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from 
God; for no one can do the signs that thou doest, 
except God be with him." From the point of view 
occupied by Nicodemus, this statement received from 
the Master a curious and perplexing response, in these 
terms: ''Verily, verily, I say unto thee. Except one 
be bom anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God.'' 
There is absolutely no logical connection between the 
language of Nicodemus and the Saviour's reply — 



34 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

nothing in the former to call out the latter — and this 
makes it necessary that we study the case with scru- 
tinizing care. 

The last two verses of the preceding chapter con- 
tain the following language: "But Jesus did not trust 
himself to them, for that he knew all men, and 
because he needed not that any one should bear wit- 
ness concerning man; for he himself knew what was 
in man." Evidently this conversation between Jesus 
and Nicodemus was recorded just where it is as an 
illustration of the startling declaration just quoted. 
The Master knew what was in the mind of Nicodemus, 
and he replied to that rather than the statement he 
made in words. Nicodemus supposed that Jesus was 
going to lead a great social, moral and political revolu- 
tion, and set up a kingdom for himself over which 
he would rule as king, and, being a shrewd politician, 
he wanted to take time by the forelock, and curry 
favor with the coming king in advance. He wanted 
place and position in the new kingdom, and he was 
basing his expectations upon his natural and Jewish 
birth. He supposed that he would be entitled to citi- 
zenship in that kingdom because he was born of 
Jewish parents. It was to that thought that the Teacher 
addressed his reply, and not to the words that fell 
from the lips of his interviewer. In effect he said, 
Nicodemus, don't you come knocking at the door of 
my kingdom, expecting admission into it because of 
your fleshly birth, for that will avail you nothing 
here. Although you are a child of Abraham by virtue 
of your Jewish birth, that fact gives you no passport 
into the kingdom which I came into the world to 
establish. So far from it, you must be born anew — 
bom over. 



THREE KINGDOMS OF GOD 35 

This statement filled Nicodemus with astonishment, 
inasmuch as his mind was wholly occupied with a 
birth of flesh and blood, and he demanded to know 
how this could possibly be. In response to this very 
natural inquiry the Saviour said: ''Verily, verily, I 
say unto thee, Except one be born of water and the 
Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." 
This emphatic and important statement should receive 
the most careful attention at the hands of the student 
of the word of God, who wants to know the truth 
as it is in Christ Jesus, and the investigation should 
be conducted according to the generally recognized 
rules governing the interpretation of human speech. 
One of the most important of these rules is that 
words are to be taken in their generally accepted 
meaning, and such a meaning of a word is not to be 
withheld in a given instance of its use, except for 
the most cogent reasons. Blackstone says: ''The 
words of a law are generally to be understood in 
their usual and most known signification, not so much 
regarding the propriety of grammar, as their general 
and popular use." Greenleaf deposes thus: "The 
terms of every written document are to be understood 
in their plain, ordinary and popular use." Thomas 
Hartwell Home testifies as follows: "The received 
signification of a word is to be retained, unless 
weighty and necessary reasons require that it should 
be abandoned or neglected." Bishop Middleton lays 
down the following rule: "It is better to understand 
phrases in their obvious import, even though we 
should be compelled to leave the proof of their fitness 
to more fortunate inquiry. When once we begin to 
withhold from words their ordinary and natural 
signification, we must not complain if infidels charge 



36 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

our religion with mysticism, or its expositors with 
fraud." Dr. Bloomfield gives us the following sen- 
sible principle of interpretation: "Words and phrases 
must not be taken in some recondite sense which men 
of learning and ingenuity, in support of an hypoth- 
esis, may devise; but in the ordinary sense of the 
words, wherein the persons addressed, whether by 
preaching or writing, would be likely to understand 
them." These rules come from past masters in the 
art of the interpretation of language, two of whom 
(the first and second) are brilliant lights in the legal 
profession. If these rules are adhered to, one is not 
apt to go far wrong in one's conclusion as to the 
meaning of a given word. 

With these guiding principles before us, let us 
take up for inspection the word ** water" in the pas- 
sage last quoted. Perhaps no word known to human 
speech is more commonly used than this term, and 
there is never any doubt as to its meaning in com- 
mon parlance. No one needs the aid of a dictionary 
to find out the meaning of this word. Now, when the 
Saviour used it in the passage that we are consider- 
ing, what did He mean by it? There is no indication 
whatever that He attached to it a meaning with which 
the people were unacquainted, and if we are to take 
words ''in their usual and most known signification," 
as Blackstone says, and not ''in some recondite sense 
which men of learning and ingenuity, in support of 
an hypothesis, may devise," as Bloomfield says, there 
can be no doubt that the Master meant the fluid that 
is commonly meant when the word "water" is used, 
when He said to Nicodemus: "Except one be born of 
water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the king- 
dom of God." This position is rendered doubly strong 



THREE KINGDOMS OF GOD 37 

when it is remembered that the language at present 
under consideration is itself explanation. It is par- 
ticularly important that the words used in explaining 
something be taken in their usual and most known 
signification, otherwise the explanation fails to explain. 
If the Lord did not mean wr.ter when He said water 
in explanation of what He had previously said, no 
one knows or can know what He did mean, and we 
are left at sea without chart or compass with respect 
to one of the most important subjects of divine revela- 
tion; namely, the new birth. The Master places water 
between a sinner and the kingdom of God, and in 
entering into this kingdom the sinner must make 
some use of water, or, in other words, he must pass 
through water. 

The next step in our investigation is to discover 
what relation water sustains to the kingdom of God 
by divine appointment, or ascertain where the two 
come in contact with each other, and it takes but 
little research to find out that they meet in Christian 
baptism, and nowhere else. It is wholly unnecessary 
to dwell upon this point, for it is perfectly obvious, 
and there is no diversity of opinion about it. From 
these principles the conclusion is inevitable that to 
be bom of water is to be baptized, and in regard to 
this there is remarkable agreement among Biblical 
expositors. A few examples will suffice upon this 
point: '^That the term Jiudatos [water] must be 
understood of baptism, is quite plain from Tit. 3 : 5, 
and other passages" (Bloomfield). ''By water here 
is evidently signified baptism'' (Barnes). ''There can 
be no doubt, on any honest interpretation of the 
word, that to be born of water refers to the token or 
outward sign of baptism — to be born of tJie Spirit, 



38 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

to the thing signified, or inward grace of the Holy 
Spirit. All attempts to get rid of these two plain 
facts have sprung from doctrinal prejudices, by which 
the views of expositors have been warped '^ (Dean 
Alford). *' There is not any one Christian writer of 
any antiquity in any language but what understands 
it [born of water] of baptism. And if it be not so 
understood, it is difficult to give an account how a 
person is bom of water, any more than born of 
wood" (Wall). From the standpoint of the princi- 
ples governing the interpretation of language, and 
from that of scholarly exegesis, *'born of water" in 
John 3 : 5 means baptism, and that question may be 
regarded as closed. 

This striking figure of speech is based upon the 
well-known and well-understood fact of the natural 
birth, and, like the fact that underlies it, the new 
birth, or regeneration, consists of two essential parts; 
namely, the begetting and the coming forth. In the 
begetting the Holy Spirit is the active agent, and 
the word of God, or the gospel, is the instrumentality 
through which the begetting is accomplished, or the 
truth of the gospel is the seed which, being deposited 
in the human mind, results in the begetting. And 
this brings us to an examination of the following 
important declaration: *'The wind bloweth where it 
will, and thou hearest the voice thereof, but knowest 
not whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is 
every one that is bom of the Spirit" (John 3:8). 
This passage has been a field of battle among theo- 
logians for a long time, and various and conflicting 
theories have been propounded in efforts to explain 
it. This conflict of exegetical opinion has largely 
resulted from faulty translation of two or three words 



THREE KINGDOMS OF GOD 39 

in the statement. The American Standard Edition 
of the Revised Version of the New Testament con- 
tains the following alternate rendering in the margin: 
''The Spirit breatheth;" and that this is the correct 
rendering there can be no doubt on the part of any 
careful student of the Divine Word. The Greek word 
for spirit {pneuma) occurs five times in this imme- 
diate connection, and four times it is rendered 
"spirit" in all translations, so far as I know, while 
in this single instance it is rendered ''wind." If 
the word is correctly rendered "wind" in this one 
instance, it should be so rendered in the other four, 
and if it is correctly rendered "spirit" in the four 
cases, it should be so rendered in the remaining one. 
Consistency is a jewel even in translating the Scrip- 
tures. 

Furthermore, the word occurs about 384 times in 
the Greek New Testament, and it is uniformly ren- 
dered "spirit" throughout, with the exception of the 
instance now under consideration, and one other case 
found in Heb. 1 : 7, where we have the following 
rendering in the American Revised Version: "Who 
maketh his angels winds.'' This is in a passage quoted 
from the Greek Septuagint, where the word is fre- 
quently used for the wind, but it is never so used 
in the New Testament. Moreover, the translation 
now under examination recognizes the wind as having 
both voice and volition, and we know that it has 
neither. "The wind bloweth where it will.'' This 
represents the wind as choosing its own courses, 
whereas we know that the wind has no option in the 
matter, but is governed by the inexorable laws of the 
material world. "And thou hearest the voice there- 
of." Voice is not predicated of the wind, except by 



40 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

poetic license, and the passage before ns is not poetry. 
The wind makes a sound, but does not utter a voice. 
In Acts 2:2 it is said, ''And suddenly there came 
from heaven a sound as of a rushing mighty mind,'* 
the proper word (eeclios) for sound being used, and 
not plwnee, which means voice. The word ''voice'' 
{phonee) occurs about 128 times in the New Testa- 
ment, and it always indicates the use of the organs 
of speech, and never the sound of wind. "The Spirit 
breatheth" (marginal rendering). This same word 
occurs in Acts 9:1, which says, "But Saul, yet 
breathing threatening and slaughter against the dis- 
ciples of the Lord," etc. The idea is that Saul 
uttered threatening and slaughter in intelligent speech, 
such as could be understood by his fellow men. These 
criticisms, which I have made as brief and simple 
as possible, justify the following translation: "The 
Spirit breathes [speaks] where he will, and thou 
hearest his voice. ... so is every one begotten of the 
Spirit." Gennao means either to beget or to bring 
forth, and the subject-matter in this case indicates 
that it should be taken in the fonner sense. The 
Spirit speaks or breathes forth the gospel, and one 
hears or reads what He says, and in this way one is 
begotten of the Spirit. In 1 John 5 : 1 the writer 
says, "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ 
is begotten of God," and in his letter to the Romans 
Paul teUs us, "So belief cometh of hearing, and 
hearing by the word of Christ," and this all tallies 
most beautifully with the teaching that we find in 
the third chapter of John. One who through the 
inspired word of God believes that Jesus is the Christ, 
is begotten of God, and it only remains for him to 
be brought forth or be born anew, and this is con- 



THREE KINGDOMS OF GOD 41 

suininated through water in baptism. This relieves 
the new birth or regeneration of all mysticism, and 
lifts it to the high plane of common sense and intel- 
ligence. 

This birth inducts a person into the kingdom of 
God, where he enters upon the enjoyment of the 
blessings of that kingdom, the first of which is the 
forgiveness of sin. In presenting this kingdom with 
its salvation to the citizens of the kingdom of nature, 
God proposes to increase their blessings. In their 
induction into the kingdom of grace they lose no 
blessing that belonged to them as citizens of the 
kingdom of nature. ''Religion never was designed 
to make our pleasure less." In coming into this new 
kingdom God does not ask us to leave behind any 
blessing that is from Him. He only calls upon us 
to forsake those things that are from the evil one, 
and injurious to the children of men. We may bring 
with us our hands and feet, our hearts and brains, 
our muscles and bones, our gold and silver, our stocks 
and bonds, our flocks and herds, our houses and 
farms — in a word, every good thing that we possess 
in the kingdom of nature. God wants us to use aU 
of our possessions for the promotion of the kingdom 
of grace, and the advancement of its interests in the 
world. This kingdom is a sieve to separate the wheat 
from the chaff, and conserve the former and destroy 
the latter, thus setting apart the twice-born man to 
the service of God in a pious walk and godly con- 
versation. It is a call to the most beautiful and 
useful life that is possible here on earth, while at the 
same time it presents the highest attainable plane of 
human activity. It is heaven's lure to induce men 
and women to ''cease to do evil and learn to do 



42 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

well," and he is a wise person who yields to the 
drawings of the love of God and enters upon the 
new and better life in which there is **joy unspeak- 
able," and that is ''full of glory." 

It has just been said that the first blessing that 
comes to one who is born into the kingdom of grace 
is the forgiveness of past sins, which is an item of 
the salvation that is peculiar to this kingdom, and 
does not belong to the kingdom of nature. The 
Saviour's teaching in regard to the new birth may be 
expressed in terms of the Great Commission, which 
says: "He that believeth and is baptized shall be 
saved." This is the proclamation that the messenger 
of the cross is enjoined to make to ''the whole crea- 
tion" in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, who puts 
baptism between a believing sinner and salvation, as 
He puts water between men and the kingdom of God. 
This teaching is in evidence throughout the New 
Testament, to a few examples of which I desire to 
call attention. After commissioning the apostles to 
"go into all the world and preach the gospel to 
the whole creation," the Master told them to remain 
in Jerusalem till they should be endued with power 
from on high, and under this injunction they tarried 
in the designated city during the ten days preceding 
the first Pentecost after the Lord arose from the dead. 
On that memorable day they were endued with the 
power for which they were to wait, and began their 
gospel ministry by preaching Jesus and the resurrec- 
tion, and convicting many of their hearers of sin, 
who said: "Brethren, what shall we do?" In response 
to this earnest and vital inquiry the apostle Peter 
made answer as follows: "Repent ye, and be baptized 
every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto 



THREE KINGDOMS OF GOD 43 

the remission of your sins; and you shall receive the 
gift of the Holy Spirit '' (Acts 2:38). Thus began 
the administration of the law of the kingdom of grace 
which makes provision for the forgiveness of sin and 
the enjoyment of salvation therefrom. The apostle's 
answer to the question of these convicted and earnest 
inquirers is clear and explicit, so that the wayfaring 
man, though unlearned, may not err with respect 
to the way of life and salvation. The inquirers were 
already believers, made such by the preaching of the 
word of Christ by which faith comes, and hence they 
were not told to believe. One of the many beauties 
of the gospel is that it begins with a man just where 
it finds him, and leads him on in the way of duty to 
the blessing contemplated in the divine economy of 
grace. 

A fair and legitimate interpretation of the lan- 
guage just quoted from Peter leaves no room foe 
doubt as to its meaning. Indeed, the language needs 
no interpretation, for its meaning floats upon its 
surface, so that he who runs may understand it. The 
people were told to ''repent, and be baptized in the 
name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of their 
sins," or that their sins might be blotted out, and 
that is about as plain as language can make a thing. 
But almost as a work of supererogation I will intro- 
duce in this connection what some of the world's 
best scholars and critics have said as to the meaning 
of the important passage now before us. The pivotal 
word in the passage, the word upon which the mean- 
ing of the passage principally turns, is the Greek tern^ 
eis, which is rendered ''unto" in the Revised Version of 
the Scriptures: "Repent ye, and be baptized every 
one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto [eis] 



44 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

the remission of your sins/* **Unto the remission of 
your sins" translates the Greek phrase eis apJiesin 
liamartioon Jiumoon, which it is necessary to know in 
order to understand the quotations that I am about 
to make. 

Thayer's '* Greek-English Lexicon," which is the 
standard for New Testament Greek, says: **Eis 
apJiesin Jiamartioon, to obtain the forgiveness of sin, 
Acts 2:38." 

Meyer's Commentary easily heads the list of 
critical commentaries on the New Testament, and that 
great work, commenting on Acts 2:38, says: "What 
a definite and complete answer and promise of salva- 
tion! . . . Eis denotes the object of the baptism, which 
is the remission of the guilt contracted in the state 
before repentance." 

Prof. Horatio B. Hackett was a member of the 
Baptist Church, and a member of the American Com- 
mittee on the Revision of the Scriptures. In his 
"Commentary on Acts" he says: *^Eis apJiesin 
Jiamartioon, in order to the forgiveness of sins" (Matt. 
26:28; Luke 3:3), we connect naturally with both 
the preceding verbs. This clause states the motive or 
object which should induce them to repent and be 
baptized. It enforces the entire exhortation, not one 
part of it to the exclusion of the other." 

Perhaps the Presbyterian Church in America never 
produced a greater scholar and critic than was Albert 
Barnes, as all know who are acquainted with his 
monumental work entitled "Barnes' Notes." In a 
letter to me, dated August 18, 1870, that distinguished 
commentator said: "But it seems to me that the word 
eis, in the passage referred to (Acts 2:38), relates 
to the entire previous sentence. 'Repent, and be bap- 



THREE KINGDOMS OF GOD 45 

tized every one of you in tlie name of Jesus Christ' — 
eis — unto, or in order to, or with reference to — 'the 
remission of sins/ etc. That is, the repentance and 
baptism hotJi have reference to the remission of sins; 
or the entire process, so to speak, in the divine 
arrangement for the remission of sins, embraces this, 
or this is the complete process appointed by God in 
connection with the pardon of sin." 

Perhaps the Baptist Church never produced a 
greater scholar and critic than was Prof. J. R. Boise, 
Ph.D., LL.D., of the Baptist Union Theological Semi- 
nary. In a letter to me, dated May 8, 1884, this 
distinguished scholar says: *'In Acts 2:38, we find 
repentance, baptism in faith (leading into the remis- 
sion of sins). 'In the name of Jesus Christ' can only 
mean faith in Him; and so it is understood by all the 
best commentators. Eis aphesin, etc., belongs with the 
two verbs preceding. We have, then, repentance, 
baptism in faith, the remission of sins, the gift of the 
Holy Spirit, all in regular sequence." 

In a letter to R. T. Mathews in 1876, Professor 
Harkness, of Brown University, a Baptist institution, 
said: *'In my opinion, eis, in Acts 2:38, denotes 
purpose, and may be rendered 'in order to,' or 'for 
the purpose of receiving,' or, as in our English 
version, 'for.' Eis aphesin hamartioon suggests the 
motive or object contemplated in the action of the 
two preceding verbs." 

This list might be extended to include such expert 
exegetes as Professor Tyler, of Amherst College, 
Mass. ; Professor Packard, of Yale University ; Pro- 
fessor Cameron, of Princeton College; Professor 
Foster, of Colby University; Professor Flagg, of 
Cornell University; Professor Proctor, of Dartmouth 



46 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

College, and many others, but it is entirely unneces- 
sary. As a matter of scholarship and critical exegesis, 
the question may be regarded as closed. Through 
baptism a penitent believer enters the kingdom of 
grace and receives the remission of his past sins, and 
is saved from their guilt and condemnation, and is a 
new creature in Christ Jesus. 

The Kingdom of Glory. 

To this new creature God says, I am not done 
blessing you yet, and places before him the eternal 
kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and 
tells him how to gain admittance thereinto, in the 
following language: *'Yea, and for this very cause 
adding on your part all diligence, in your faith 
supply virtue; and in your virtue knowledge; and 
in your knowledge self-control; and in your self- 
control patience; and in your patience godliness; and 
in your godliness brotherly kindness; and in your 
brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours 
and abound, they make you to be not idle nor unfruit- 
ful unto the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
For he that lacketh these things is blind, seeing only 
what is near, having forgotten the cleansing from 
his old sins. Wherefore, brethren, give the more 
diligence to make your calling and election sure: for 
if ye do these things, ye shall never stumble: for thus 
shall be richly supplied unto you the entrance into 
the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus 
Christ" (2 Pet. 1:5-11). Here the citizens of the 
kingdom of grace, those who have been born anew, 
have placed before them the kingdom of glory, the 
eternal kingdom of Jesus Christ, and are instructed 
as to the path that leads into that kingdouL 



THREE KINGDOMS OF GOD 47 

In effect God says to those who **have escaped 
from the corruption that is in the world by lust,'* 
I have something more and better for you yet, unto 
which you may attain if you ''give diligence to make 
your calling and election sure"; and then He lays 
down the program by which they may enter into the 
eternal kingdom of glory. This program contains 
plans and specifications for the building up of such 
a character as, under God through Jesus Christ, will 
fit one for the enjoyment of the citizenship of that 
kingdom. The program begins with faith, for only 
believers are contemplated as citizens of the kingdom 
of grace. The gospel is ''out of faith into faith" 
(ek pisteoos eis pistin) — Rom. 1:17. The Christian 
life begins in faith, advances through faith, and is 
perfected by faith. It is bounded on every side by 
faith, and "whatsoever is not of faith is sin." On 
this foundation the superstructure is erected, and 
the first stone laid thereupon is courage — courage 
to "dare to do right," and to "contend earnestly 
for the faith once for all delivered unto the saints." 
Then comes knowledge, which is a very important 
item in one's equipment to "fight the good fight of 
faith." This suggests the necessity of reading the 
word of God, for that is the main source of the 
knowledge that every soldier of the cross needs in 
the battles of life. One must know the Bible and 
understand how to use it, in order to come off a 
conqueror over the Christian's enemies. We must 
"receive with meekness the implanted word, which is 
able to save our souls." 

Next comes temperance, which is one of the most 
precious and valuable traits in Christian character. 
It means self-control in all things, and it brings one 



48 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

under the benediction which says: ''He that is slow 
to anger is better than the mighty, and he that 
ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city/' It 
prevents one from becoming a slave to habit, and 
delivers one from the tyranny of an evil custom. 
It prompts one to be moderate in the use of those 
things that are advantageous and helpful in life, and 
to wholly abstain from those things that are only 
hurtful to their users. After this comes patience, 
which, so to speak, is the balance-wheel in the machin- 
ery of the Christian's make-up, and without which 
he is liable to become the plaything of passion. It 
is needed in all departments of life— in the family, 
in the schoolroom, in the church, in business, in social 
relationships, etc. Next to this stands godliness, or 
likeness to God. The service and worship of God 
constantly tend to clothe one in the characteristics 
of the Father of our spirits, and impress upon one 
the divine image, and a Christian should strive all 
the time to become more and more like God in life 
and character. God is the model by which he should 
aim to direct his conduct and shape the issues of 
his life. Then succeeds brotherly kindness, or love 
of the brethren, and this is really the test of disciple- 
ship. *'By this shall all men know that ye are my 
disciples, if ye have love one to another, '* said the 
great Teacher, and this teaching is reinforced by 
John, the apostle of love, who says, *'He that loveth 
his brother abideth in the light, and there is no occa- 
sion of stumbling in him,'' and the same writer also 
says, '*We know that we have passed out of death 
into life, because we love the brethren." And now 
comes the grand climax in universal love — the love 
of God and man; and in this Christian character is 



THREE KINGDOMS OF GOD 49 

perfected, and one stands forth in the likeness of the 
blessed God who "so loved the world, that he gave 
his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on 
him should not perish, but have eternal life/' What 
a glorious thing the Christian life is! and what splen- 
did fruit it brings forth! 

It is in this way — that is, by building these several 
qualities into one's character — that we attain to the 
rich "entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord 
and Saviour Jesus Christ," and certainly this appeals 
to the very best that is in a human being. The gospel 
promises men the very best things that belong to this 
world, and eternal life in the world to come; and 
certainly a stronger lure to action could not be pre- 
sented to the children of men. Instinctively we cling 
to life and shun death, and for the former we are 
willing to give up everything else. The kingdom of 
glory is called an eternal kingdom in contrast with 
the kingdoms of this world, which come to naught. 
Human history is crowded with the wrecks of king- 
doms, empires, thrones and dominions, and every page 
of it bears a reminder that all things earthly must 
come to an end. How refreshing and comforting, 
then, the assurance that there is an attainable king- 
dom that shall last for ever and ever! Even the 
kingdom of heaven in this world is continually chang- 
ing its citizenship on account of death. One genera- 
tion succeeds another, for we have no abiding-place 
here that continues. "Our fathers, where are they? 
and the prophets, do they live for ever?" "Tramp, 
tramp, tramp, the boys are marching" — marching on 
to the tomb; and, shrink from it as we may, death 
lies in wait for us, and sooner or later will seize us 
and drag us one by one down into his dark dominion. 



50 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

But on the other side stands the eternal kingdom, 
where joy reigns forever more, and where there is 
life everlasting. No more tears, no more breaking 
hearts, no more farewells! 

**0 blessed day, O glorious hope, 
My soul rejoices at the thought 
That in that happy, holy land 
We'll take no more the parting hand.'' 

And here comes to view the third birth, for this 
eternal kingdom, in its fullness and completeness, is 
entered by means of a birth from the grave. Jesus 
was the firstborn from the dead, and became the first- 
fruits of them that sleep in the cold and silent grave, 
and His resurrection stands as a pledge of the resur- 
rection of those who sleep in Him. That will be a 
glorious day when, at the coming of Christ, those 
that are His shall rise from the dead with bodies 
fashioned according to His glorious body, and enter 
with Him into His eternal kingdom to go out no 
more for ever. Then lift up your head, weary pil- 
grim, and rejoice in the light that betokens the 
breaking of an eternal day of bliss and glory, when 
the true immortelles shall bloom never to fade. Amen 
and amen! 



THE HOLY SPIRIT 
A SERMON 

Text. — "Nevertheless I tell you the truth: It is expedient 
for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter 
will not come unto you; but if I go, I will send him unto 
you. And he, when he is come, will convict the world in 
respect of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, 
because they believe not on me; of righteousness, because I go 
to the Father, and ye behold me no more; of judgment, 
because the prince of this world hath been judged. I have 
many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. 
Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he shall guide 
you into all the truth: for he shall not speak from himself; 
but what things soever he shall hear, these shall he speak: 
and he shall declare unto you the things that are to come. 
He shall glorify me: for he shall take of mine, and shall 
declare it unto you.** — John 16: 7-14. 

THE work of the Holy Spirit in the matter of 
human redemption has always been a question 
of deep and vital interest in Christian theology, and 
it has given rise to much and sometimes to wild 
speculation, and considerable fanaticism. This sermon 
is to be a calm, but earnest, study of this important 
subject in the light of the teaching of the inspired 
Scriptures, for this is the source of all knowledge 
with respect to it. All we know or can know about 
the Spirit of God we must learn from the revelation 
of divine truth that He has given us, and whenever 
we leave that we enter the field of unbridled specula- 

51 



62 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

tion, and are liable to be led into the most grotesque 
and fanciful conjecture and even superstition. In 
tMs field of thought caution is necessary. 

The first query that naturally and logically pre- 
sents itself for consideration in this investigation is, 
*'What is the Holy Spirit?" and, as has just been 
indicated, the answer to this question must come from 
the word of God. The language of our text clearly 
teaches that the Holy Spirit is a person. The per- 
sonal pronouns ''he," ''him" and "himself" are 
applied to Him, and this of itself clearly indicates 
personality, and it is said of Him that He speaks, and 
this necessarily implies that He thinks. In John 
3:8 it is said, when the passage is correctly trans- 
lated, that the "Spirit breathes where he will." This 
shows that this thinking speaker has a will by which 
He is governed, and here we find another charac- 
teristic of personality. The Holy Spirit, then, is a 
thinking, speaking, willing, self-determining person, as 
much so as either God or Christ, and it is of great 
importance that this truth be borne in mind through- 
out this discussion. It is in place to remark here 
that a person, whether divine or human, must be 
somewhere in particular, and not simply everywhere 
in general. Popular theology makes God and Christ 
and the Holy Spirit one and the same person, God 
being one manifestation of that person, Christ another 
manifestation of that same person, and the Holy Spirit 
still another manifestation of that same person, and 
along with this goes the speculative doctrine of "the 
divine immanence," whatever that may be. The best 
I can get out of it is that this divine person is in 
everything everywhere, but nowhere in particular — 
which is a glaring paradox, for no person, either 



THE HOLY SPIRIT 58 

divine or hnman, can be at more than one place at 
the same time. 

JesTis said, ''And I wiU pray the Father, and he 
shaU give you another Comforter," and this other 
Comforter is declared to be "the Spirit of truth," 
or the Holy Spirit. Here we have three separate 
and distinct persons, as clearly differentiated from 
each other as any other three persons in the universe 
of God. Jesus (one person) was to pray God 
(another person), and He would send the Spirit (a 
third person). Translated in terms of popular the- 
ology, it would run about thus: ''I [one manifesta- 
tion of the Divine Being] will pray God [a second 
manifestation of the Divine Being], and he will send 
the Spirit [a third manifestation of the Divine 
Being]." It is a great pity that the scheme of 
redemption has to be burdened with such a handicap as 
this, but it is an absurdity for which divine revelation 
is not responsible. It is to be charged up to human 
speculation. Let it be remembered that the Holy 
Spirit is a person, and as such is one and indivisible, 
must have local habitation, and can be at but one 
place at the same time. 

The next question that presents itself for con- 
sideration is, ''What is the work of the Holy Spirit 
in the conversion and salvation of men?" and to 
this question we have a full and definite answer in 
the language of the text. 

He was to convict, or convince, the world of sin 
because it believed not on the Lord Jesus Christ as 
the Son of God. From this we discover that it is a 
sin, a grievous sin, not to believe on Him whom God 
sent into the world to save men from their sins, and 
bring them to eternal glory. The Master said, "He 



54 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

that disbelieveth shall be condemned," and that this 
is a just sentence there can be no reasonable doubt. 
To refuse to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ is, in 
view of the overwhelming evidence that God has fur- 
nished in support of the proposition that Jesus of 
Nazareth is His Son, is to manifest the greatest per- 
versity and stubbornness of the will, and it plainly 
indicates that the heart is in a state of rebellion 
against God. The Master said: ^'If any man willeth 
to do his will, he shall know of the teaching, whether 
it is of God, or whether I speak from myself (John 
7:17). The human will should always be in a state 
of submissiveness to the divine will, constantly ready 
to believe what God says and do what He commands, 
and no mind that is in that condition can refuse to 
believe the testimony that God has given' concerning 
His Son. Of this great sin the Holy Spirit was to 
convict, or convince, the world. 

The Holy Spirit was also to convict the world 
of righteousness; not its own righteousness, of course, 
but of the righteousness of Christ. The Lord was 
accused and, in a way, convicted of sin in both an 
ecclesiastical and a civil court, and upon that con- 
viction He was condemned to the death of the cross. 
But He appealed His case to the highest court in 
the universe, the court of high heaven, and in that 
court the lower courts were reversed, and He was 
vindicated and declared to be righteous in all His 
claims. This the Holy Spirit was to make known to 
the world, and thus convict it of the righteousness of 
Jesus, and of its own sin in rejecting Him and having 
Him put to death. A few weeks after He was cru- 
cified He ascended into heaven, where He was before 
He came into this world, and as He ascended a cloud 



THE HOLY SPIRIT 55 

received Him out of the sight of the disciples who 
stood gazing after Him, and they knew not what 
was done with or to Him after that, till the Holy- 
Spirit revealed it to them. Speaking of the Spirit 
whom He would send, the Lord said, ''He will con- 
vict the world of righteousness, because I go to the 
Father," and ten days after He went to the Father 
to have his case reheard before the infallible court of 
final resort, the Holy Spirit was sent down to make 
the decision of that court known to the children of 
men. In announcing that decision on the day of 
Pentecost, the Spirit said, ''Let all the house of Israel 
therefore know assuredly, that God hath made him 
both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom ye crucified," 
and when that announcement was made the disciples 
learned what became of Jesus when He passed out 
of their sight in His upward flight. This is the 
explanation of the passage which says: "And no man 
can say, Jesus is Lord, but in the Holy Spirit" (1 
Cor. 12:3). Had not the Holy Spirit proclaimed 
on the day of Pentecost that God made Jesus Lord, 
no man could ever have said that He is Lord. 

And the Holy Spirit was to convict the world '*of 
judgment, because the prince of this world hath been 
judged." The "prince of this world" is most likely 
identical with the "prince of the power of the air, 
the spirit that now worketh in the sons of disobe- 
dience"; that is, the devil. When he rebelled against 
God, and started a revolt in heaven, God judged him, 
condemned him, and expelled him from the courts of 
glory; and as He judged him, so will He judge his 
followers. God has shown Himself to be the supreme 
Autocrat of the universe, and as He has judged and 
condemned Satan, so will He judge and condemn 



56 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

the cMldren of disobedience in whom He works; a^d 
the only way to escape such judgment and condemna- 
tion is to ** cease to do evil, and learn to do well.*' 
The Holy Spirit has made this perfectly clear, and 
men should give heed to His teaching, forsake their 
sins, and obey God, for Jesus Christ became the 
author of eternal salvation only to those who obey 
him (Heb. 5:9). 

And here this question emerges: How does the 
Holy Spirit accomplish the work assigned Him by the 
Saviour as specified in our text? And here again the 
text gives a full and explicit answer: **Howbeit when 
he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he shall guide you 
into all the truth.*' This shows that the Spirit wa^ 
to do His work by revealing truth to the world, and 
hence He is called ''the Spirit of truth," and the 
truth was to be spoken. ''For he shall not speak 
from himself; but what things soever he shall hear, 
these shall he speak: and he shall declare unto you 
the things that are to come.*' The Spirit was to come 
as a teacher, instructing men in things pertaining 
to the will of God, and thus convicting them of sin, 
and of righteousness, and of judgment; and without 
this teaching it is impossible for one to come to God 
for salvation and eternal life, as the following Scrip- 
ture plainly indicates: "No man can come to me, 
except the Father that sent me draw him: and I will 
raise him up in the last day. It is written in the 
prophets. And they shall all be taught of God. Every 
one that hath heard from the Father, and hath 
learned, cometh unto me" (John 6:44, 45). A man 
must both hear and learn from the Father to be 
saved. Some hear, but do not learn because they 
do not hear in a teachable state of mind. They hear 



THE HOLY SPIRIT 57 

with indifference or in a hostile state of mind, and 
hence fail to learn the truth that makes men free and 
brings them into the liberty of the sons of God. 
There are those who read the Bible as adverse critics, 
for the purpose of picking flaws in it, and they 
are in no condition to ''receive with meekness the 
ingrafted word of God which is able to save their 
souls." We are admonished to "take heed Tiow" we 
hear, for, unless we hear in the proper spirit and 
intent, the hearing will profit us nothing. ** Speak, 
Lord, for thy servant heareth,'' indicates the proper 
attitude of mind in which a man must hear in order 
to be benefited by what he hears. 

To one who hears the word of God with a desire 
to understand it, and with the intention of walking 
in the way it points out, the gospel is "the power 
of God unto salvation" (Rom. 1:16), and with such 
an individual it never fails. He who can not be 
moved by the story of Jesus and His love, to accept 
salvation on the terms of the gospel, is beyond the 
reach of the moral means that God has ordained for 
the salvation of men, and we have no intimation that 
the good Lord will bring other means to bear for the 
salvation of such. The word of God is said to be 
"living, and active, and sharper than any two-edged 
sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and 
spirit, of both joints and marrow, and quick to dis- 
cern the thoughts and intents of the heart" (Heb. 
4:12), and the heart that this "sword of the Spirit" 
can not pierce must be as hard as adamant — made so 
by the love of sin. "For seeing that in the wisdom 
of God the world through its wisdom knew not God, 
it was God's good pleasure through the foolishness 
of the preaching to save them that believe," declares 



68 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

the apostle Paul (1 Cor. 1:21), and the same apostle 
in the same connection says: "But we preach Christ 
crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling-block, and unto 
the Gentiles foolishness; but unto them that are 
called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of 
God, and the wisdom of God." From this language 
we learn that the preaching of Christ crucified is 
both the power of God and the wisdom of God in the 
matter of human redemption, and to look beyond this, 
or to depend upon anything aside from this, for 
salvation, is to rely upon a broken reed. But let 
us hear the great apostle once more upon this vital 
theme: '*For the word of the cross is to them that 
perish foolishness; but unto us who are saved [being 
saved] it is the power of God." These passages, with 
many others that might be quoted, make it abundantly 
evident that the Holy Spirit does His work of con- 
verting and saving men through the preaching of the 
gospel of the grace of God, and this gives point and 
meaning to the commission that says: **Go ye into 
all the world, and preach the gospel to the whole 
creation. ' ' 

So far we have been considering the work of the 
Holy Spirit from the standpoint of abstract teaching, 
and from this point of view there seems to be no room 
for doubt or misunderstanding. But it will be inter- 
esting and instructive to examine that work as it is 
concreted in the ministry of the apostles and primitive 
evangelists of the Lord Jesus Christ. You can get a 
fairly good idea of a self-binding reaper from litera- 
ture and verbal description, but if you go into the 
field where it is at work, and see it in operation, you 
can thereby get a better idea of that implement of 
industry in a much shorter time. And so it is with 



THE HOLY SPIRIT 59 

regard to the work of the Holy Spirit, and to make 
certainty doubly sure let us go into the fields where 
men of God worked under the direct guidance of the 
Holy Spirit, and see how He did His work, for as 
He did His work then, so He does His work now. 
And it is not only appropriate, but important, that 
we begin at the beginning, and trace the matter 
through the ministry of divinely directed men. 

This program takes us to the day of Pentecost 
when the Spirit commenced His work, that we may 
study it in the light of the first full gospel sermon 
that was ever preached. Just before the Saviour left 
His apostles He told them to tarry in Jerusalem till 
they should be endued with power from on high, and 
under these instructions they remained in the city 
till Pentecost, when they received the promise of bap- 
tism in the Holy Spirit by which they were qualified 
to begin the work the Spirit was to do through them. 
Being filled with the Holy Spirit, they ''began to 
speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them 
utterance.'' Peter, as the chief speaker, informed 
the multitude in his presence that what they saw and 
heard was the fulfillment of a prophecy made by Joel, 
and then proceeded to give a brief history of Jesus 
of Nazareth, showing that He was the Messiah fore- 
told by the prophets, and closing his argument with 
this astounding declaration: ''Let all the house of 
Israel therefore know assuredly, that God hath made 
him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom ye cru- 
cified.'' This thrust of the sword of the Spirit found 
its mark, for "when they heard this, they were 
pricked in their heart," thus furnishing a verification 
of the fact that the word of God is "living and 
powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, 



60 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

piercing to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, 
and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the 
thoughts and intents of the heart." With tremendous 
power the Holy Spirit is performing His mission of 
convicting the world of sin, and, under conviction 
produced by the wonderful speech made by the Spirit 
through Peter, people in large numbers cried out in 
deepest earnestness: ''Brethren, what shall we do?" 
How admirably this concrete example of the Spirit's 
method of convicting men of sin corresponds with the 
abstract teaching of Scripture heretofore set forth! 
In this example we see the Spirit at work, and have 
an ocular demonstration of His method of operation. 
Not long after the event just spoken of, there was 
another transaction of a similar nature, which took 
place at the "door of the temple which is called 
Beautiful." As Peter and John were going up into 
the temple at the hour of prayer, they encountered 
a lame man whom, in the name of Jesus, they healed. 
This wonderful miracle brought together a multitude 
of people in Solomon's porch, whom Peter addressed 
in his second recorded sermon, and a great sermon it 
was. He lifted up Jesus Christ in their presence. He 
charged upon those who heard him that they had 
** denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for 
a murderer to be granted unto them, and killed the 
Prince of life," following this charge with the decla- 
ration that God had raised Jesus, whose crucifixion 
they had procured, from the dead, in proof of which 
he presented the miracle that they had just witnessed. 
Again the arrow went home, for ''many of them that 
heard the word believed; and the number of the men 
came to be about five thousand" — another sweeping 
victory for the gospel which is the power of God unto 



THE HOLY SPIRIT 61 

salvation. In view of the triumplis of the truth as 
it is in Christ Jesns, it is not wonderful that Paul, 
in that solemn charge that he gave his son Timothy, 
said: ** Preach the word." He knew the wonderful 
power of the word of the truth of the gospel, and wanted 
Timothy, as well as all other preachers, to understand 
that his mission was to preach the unsearchable riches 
of the gospel of Christ, and not be corrupted from 
its simplicity. The task of the true gospel preacher 
is a very easy and simple one, and he should never 
allow himself to be swerved therefrom by the philoso- 
phies and speculations of men. 

Let us now examine the work of the Holy Spirit 
in Samaria. In the dispersion of the disciples from 
Jerusalem, that followed the martyrdom of Stephen, 
Philip went down to the city just mentioned, and pro- 
claimed unto the people the Christ. This was the 
burden of the preaching of men of God during the 
apostolic age. Paul's experience in Athens taught 
him to know nothing in his preaching but Jesus Christ 
and Him crucified. In Samaria *' multitudes gave 
heed with one accord unto the things that were spoken 
by Philip," and ''when they believed Philip preach- 
ing good tidings concerning the kingdom of God and 
the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both 
men and women." Thus the gospel went on, from 
conquering to conquer, as it always does when it is 
faithfully preached without any admixture of vain 
philosophy or speculation of men. In connection 
with the work of the Spirit among the multitudes in 
Samaria, let us now examine the case of the conver- 
sion of a single man on a public highway. When 
Philip was in the midst of his work in the populous 
city of Samaria, he received a special message from 



62 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

God through an angel, to the effect that he should 
leave the city and *'go toward the south unto the 
way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza/' 
From the human point of view this was strange pro- 
cedure. Why should Philip stop his successful work 
in the populous city of Samaria, where people were 
accepting Christ in large numbers, and go into a 
region where but few hearers were to be found? This 
is the question that rationalism would have asked, and 
in view of which it would have hesitated; but Philip 
was a man of faith, and such a man never stops to 
argue with a command of God, and hence he at once 
** arose and went." "When he struck the road leading 
from Jerusalem to Gaza he discovered a chariot mov- 
ing along toward Gaza, in which the treasurer of 
Candace, queen of Ethiopia, was riding; and just 
at this juncture the Holy Spirit appeared upon the 
scene and said to Philip: "Go near, and join thyself 
to this chariot." From this the man of God began 
to understand the message he received in Samaria. 
He was to preach the gospel to that Ethiopian, that 
he might believe and be saved. 

But rationalism, which is always ready to find 
fault with the ways of God, would have propounded 
this query: Why did not the angel go to that one 
man in that southern country to convert and save 
him, and allow Philip to continue his successful work 
in Samaria? The answer to this question is that that 
was not God's way of converting and saving men. 
The gospel is the power of God unto salvation, and 
no angel was ever commissioned to preach the gospel. 
We have this "treasure in earthen vessels," and men 
are to carry it to the lost children of earth, and in 
His wisdom God made choice of Philip to carry the 



THE HOLY SPIRIT 63 

glad tidings to this EtMopian traveler. It is worthy 
of special remark that when the Holy Spirit appeared 
in the transaction, He came as a speaker having some- 
thing to say, and He said it to the preacher, and not 
to the man to be converted and saved. A certain 
brand of theology would say, Why did not the Spirit 
go to the man that was to be saved, and do the work 
that was necessary for his conversion? and again the 
answer is, That was not God's way of converting men. 
*'It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to 
save them that believe," and it also pleased God that 
the preaching should be done by His people on earth. 
It is said that Philip, under this further instruction 
from the Holy Spirit, ''ran to him, and heard him 
reading Isaiah the prophet." This man, in preparing 
for his long journey to Jerusalem to worship, pro- 
vided himself with the word of God, and as he rode 
along in his chariot he was reading that beautiful 
and pathetic poetical description of the suffering and 
death of our Saviour contained in the fifty-third 
chapter of Isaiah. When Philip overtook him and 
discovered that he was reading the Scriptures he said 
to him, **Understandest thou what thou readest?" — 
rather a bold question for an humble footman to 
address to such a dignitary as was this Ethiopian 
officer of state. But he was a man of a ''good and 
honest heart," and was in search of the truth, and 
was willing to receive light from any source; so he 
invited the preacher ''to come up and sit with him." 
Accepting the invitation, the man of God seated him- 
self in the chariot by the side of this distinguished 
traveler, and proceeded to "preach to him Jesus." 

And what a sermon that must have been! No 
doubt the preacher went back to the time when Jesus 



64 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

was with God as the Word, clothed in all the glory 
that belongs to the throne of the almighty One, and 
told how He emptied Himself of all the riches of 
this sublime environment, and came down into this 
sin-burdened world of ours to be a "man of sorrows 
and acquainted with grief"; how He went about on 
earth doing good and blessing suffering humanity; 
how He was despised and rejected of men; how He 
was betrayed by one who had been numbered among 
His closest disciples; how He was finally crucified for 
the sins of the world; how He was buried and rose 
again from the dead; how He ascended up on high 
and was coronated in the midst of the heavens as 
King of kings and Lord of lords, and how He ever 
lives to make intercession for His people. Can yon 
imagine with what interest the Ethiopian listened to 
this wonderful story ojf Jesus and His love? and how 
it dawned upon his mind that the prophecy he had 
been reading was fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth, of 
whom this stranger was telling him? No doubt the 
thrilling story quickened the blood in its courses 
through his veins, and caused him to experience 
sensations that were heavenly and indescribable. 
Presently they ''came unto a certain water," and the 
eunuch looked upon it with an interest that no body 
of water had ever generated in his soul before, and 
with delight he exclaimed: ''Behold, water; what doth 
hinder me to be baptized?" Where and how did 
this man get the idea that it was his duty and 
privilege to be baptized? It is simply said that Philip 
"preached unto him Jesus," and from this preaching 
he learned his duty to obey Jesus in the ordinance 
of baptism. This clearly implies that preaching Jesus 
includes preaching baptism. Commenting on this inter- 



THE HOLY SPIRIT 65 

eating ease of conversion, Isaac Taylor Hinton, a Bap- 
tist, in his ** History of Baptism," makes these timely 
remarks: "Clearly, the 'whole counsel of God' has not 
been preached, however fervently repentance and 
faith may have been urged, if the sinner is left 
uninformed of his immediate duty as soon as he does 
truly believe; and it is time that the primitive prac- 
tice of preaching baptism, as constantly and as simply 
as repentance and faith, was revived amongst all who 
know the truth. ... I know that many will cry out, 
'Sectarian spirit!' All that I have to reply is, 
Brethren, there are my instructions, here is my model. 
Both are divine; whether it be better to obey or please 
God or men, judge ye." Well and judiciously said, 
and these wise sentences are commended to the care- 
ful and serious attention of those who are constantly 
crying out against "preaching baptism." 

In answer to the eunuch's question Philip said, 
"If thou believest with all thy heart, thou mayest," 
and in reply to this the Ethiopian said, "I believe 
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God." Upon this con- 
fession the chariot was stopped, and Philip and the 
eunuch both went down into the water, and the 
former baptized the latter, and then "they came up 
out of the water." From these facts and circum- 
stances it is perfectly obvious what baptism was in 
those days. The eunuch continued his journey rejoic- 
ing in the new hope that the Spirit through the gos- 
pel had planted in his heart, and the Spirit reappears 
and directs Philip to other fields of labor. Thus it 
is plain to be seen how the Holy Spirit did His work 
in the apostolic age, and as He did it then, so He 
does it now, for we have the same gospel that He 
caused to be preached then, and it is as powerful 



66 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

now as it was then. ''Preach the word!*' Lest some 
one might think that I am not aware that the Revised 
Version omits the thirty-seventh verse of the eighth 
chapter of Acts, which includes the eunuch's confes- 
sion, I will state that I am aware of that fact, and 
yet I am perfectly satisfied that the verse was origi- 
nally there, and that it was omitted from a few early 
manuscripts by an oversight in copyists, as frequently 
happens in copying. It is manifest that something 
belongs where this thirty-seventh verse is, and it would 
be difficult to think of anything more appropriate for 
that place than what the Common Version puts there. 
Among the external evidences of the genuineness of 
the passage is the fact that IrensBus quotes it, and 
he lived about two hundred years earlier than the 
date of the oldest Greek manuscript known at the 
present time. That shows that this ancient writer 
had a copy of the New Testament which contained 
this verse. I quote it as inspired Scripture without 
the least hesitation. 

When Paul and Barnabas visited Iconium, it is 
said that ''they entered together into the synagogue 
of the Jews, and so spake that a great multitude both 
of Jews and of Greeks believed." Those people be- 
lieved as a result of hearing Paul and Barnabas speak- 
ing the word of God, and this accords precisely with 
Paul's statement that "faith comes by hearing, and 
hearing by the word of Christ." When Paul left 
Athens and went to Corinth, where he determined to 
know nothing in his preaching but Jesus Christ and 
Him crucified, it is said that "many of the Corinthians 
hearing, believed, and were baptized." It has now 
been shown, as I believe, to a demonstration, that the 
Holy Spirit accomplishes His work of convincing or 



THE HOLY SPIRIT 67 

convicting men of sin, and of righteousness, and of 
judgment, by addressing to them words of teaching 
whereby they see themselves to be sinners in the sight 
of God, and come to know that they are under the 
guilt and condemnation of sin, and in need of the 
redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Men are respon- 
sible moral agents, and God deals with them as such 
by bringing to bear upon their understanding reason- 
able motives to induce them to forsake their sins and 
accept the offers of mercy that are contained in the 
gospel of His grace. Men are reasonable beings, and 
hence God says to them, ''Come now, and let us 
reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be 
as scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they 
be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If ye be 
willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the 
land; but if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured 
with the sword; for the mouth of the Lord hath 
spoken it*' (Isa. 1:18-20). Thus we find in the Holy 
Scriptures line upon line and precept upon precept 
showing that in conversion the Spirit of God works 
through the gospel, and not by direct impact upon 
the sinner's heart. This is so plain that the wayfar- 
ing man, though a simpleton, need not err in regard 
to it. 

Hitherto our examination has had reference to the 
operation of the Holy Spirit in the conversion of the 
unregenerate, and it now remains to study the teach- 
ing of the word of God in regard to the relation of 
the Spirit to Christian people; and here it is expedient 
to consider some Scripture that I am quite sure has 
been pretty generally misinterpreted and misapplied. 
In the fourteenth chapter of John we read as fol- 
lows: ''And I will pray the Father, and he shall give 



68 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

you another Comforter, that he may be with you for 
ever, even the Spirit of truth : whom the world cannot 
receive; for it beholdeth him not, neither knoweth 
him: ye know him; for he abideth with you, and 
shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: 
I will come unto you." This is commonly construed 
as a general promise made to all Christian people for 
all coming time, but I think that a careful study of 
the passage in the light of its context will show that 
this construction is erroneous. Jesus had just told 
His apostles that He was soon to leave them and go 
to the Father, and this filled their hearts with pro- 
found sadness, and He sought to cheer them by 
promising to send them another Comforter, who would 
not leave them as He was going to do, but would 
abide with them ''for ever," or as long as they lived. 
**For ever" simply covers the whole period of time 
involved in the subject under consideration. Concern- 
ing servants the law of Moses provided that under 
certain circumstances the master should ''take an awl, 
and thrust it through his [the servant's] ear, and he 
shall be thy servant for ever"; that is, as long as 
both servant and master lived. The law ordained 
that certain parts of an animal offered in sacrifice 
should belong to the priest ''as a due for ever," 
or as long as that dispensation lasted. In returning 
to Philemon his runaway slave Onesimus, Paul said, 
"For perhaps he was therefore parted from thee for 
a season, that thou shouldest have him for ever," 
or as long as both Philemon and Onesimus lived. 
Passages almost without number might be quoted to 
show that the meaning of "for ever" is as I have 
said. While the Master was to leave the apostles, 
the other "Comforter," the Holy Spirit, would remain 



THE HOLY SPIRIT 69 

with them **for ever," or throughout their entire 
lifetime. 

But it is said in the Scriptures that the Spirit of 
God dwells in His children, in such passages as the 
following: ''But if any man hath not the Spirit of 
Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ is in you, 
the body is dead because of sin; but the spirit is life 
because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him 
that raised up Jesus from the dead dwelleth in you, 
he that raised up Christ Jesus from the dead shall 
give life also to your mortal bodies through his Spirit 
that dwelleth in you" (Rom. 8:8-11). There are 
other passages of like import, but this passage is suffi- 
cient to bring before us the teaching of the word of 
God on the subject. Let us give earnest and discrimi- 
nating study to this teaching. Does it mean that the 
Holy Spirit in his own proper person dwells in Chris- 
tian people? It will aid us in finding an answer to 
this question to remember that Christ is in His disci- 
ples, and common intelligence promptly says that this 
can not mean that the personal Christ is in His 
people on earth, for personally He is in heaven, and 
there He will remain till His second coming. In Eph. 
3 : 17 Paul says, * ' That Christ may dwell in your 
hearts through faith," and this explains to us how 
Christ dwells in us. Faith in Christ dwells in our 
hearts, and by a well-known figure of speech Christ 
Himself is said to dwell in us. Upon the same prin- 
ciple God is said to be in His children, but this can 
not mean that God personally lives in His people. 
The love of God and faith in Him reside in our souls, 
and by the figure of speech just referred to God Him- 
self may properly be said to be in us, but not per- 
sonally. Upon the same principle an earthly father 



70 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

may be said to dwell in the hearts of his children, 
but no one would conclude from such a statement 
that the father personally dwells in his children. The 
children love the father and believe in him, and so it 
can be said that he lives in them, and no one is misled 
by such a statement. In the affairs of this world we 
usually keep our wits about us, and look at matters 
from the standpoint of right reason and good common 
sense, but in things pertaining to divine revelation we 
too frequently lose our heads, and take up conclu- 
sions that have no support either in reason or revela- 
tion. 

Here it is proper to recall some things said in the 
beginning of this discourse as to what the Holy Spirit 
is. It was there shown that the Holy Spirit is a 
person, and as such is one and indivisible; and from 
this point of view it is perfectly plain that He can 
not personally dwell in millions of hearts at the same 
time. To satisfy the demands of the theory of the 
personal indwelling of the Holy Spirit there would 
have to be as many Holy Spirits as there are Chris- 
tians in the world. The Holy Spirit does not and 
can not divide Himself up and distribute Himself 
around by piecemeal, so that every one may receive 
a little of Him. Nor can the Holy Spirit, as a person, 
be at more than one place at the same time, as was 
pointed out in the definition. In considering things 
relating to divine revelation, God intended that we 
should make use of the mental faculties with which 
He has endowed us, and which make us akin to Him. 
The Bible is to be studied just as any other body of 
literature is studied, and no unreasonable conclusion 
is to be drawn from its teaching if a reasonable con- 
clusion is possible. 



THE HOLY SPIRIT 71 

In what sense, then, does the Holy Spirit dwell in 
the hearts of the people of God? In the same sense 
in which God and Christ themselves dwell in the 
hearts of Christian men and women; that is, by the 
faith and love which He produces in the Christian 
heart through the word of the truth of the gospel of 
God's grace. In Col. 3:16 we have the following 
admonition: ''Let the word of Christ dwell in you 
richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one 
another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, 
singing with grace in your hearts unto God." Did 
any one ever have a correct religious thought or have 
a real Christian experience that the word of God can 
not give? I do not suppose that anybody would give 
an affirmative answer to this question. If an affirma- 
tive answer may be correctly given, then the sacred 
writings are not ''able to make one wise unto salvation 
through faith which is in Christ Jesus," nor do they 
make the man of God "complete, furnished completely 
unto every good work," as the apostle Paul declares. 
The following passage is full of helpful and instruc- 
tive suggestion along this line of thought: "Grace to 
you and peace be multiplied in the knowledge of 
God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that his divine 
power hath granted unto us all things that pertain 
unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him 
that called us by his own glory and virtue; whereby 
he hath granted unto us his precious and exceeding 
great promises; that through these ye may become 
partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from 
the corruption that is in the world through lust*' 
(2 Pet. 1:2-4). 

An analysis of this passage brings out several very 
important truths. In the first place, it teaches that 



72 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

grace and peace are multiplied unto Christians **in 
the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,'* and 
of course this knowledge comes through the inspired 
word of God. In the second place, it teaches that 
God has granted unto us ^^aU things that pertain 
unto life and godliness, tlirougJi tJie knowledge of Mm 
tJiat called us by his own glory and virtue." This 
knowledge also comes through the Scriptures which 
the Holy Spirit inspired. In the third place, it 
teaches that by these inspired promises we ''are made 
partakers of the divine nature." This truly makes 
the man of God ''complete, furnished completely unto 
every good work," and fully arms and equips him 
for the warfare of life. What more does a Christian 
soldier need? These written promises fill the heart 
with a joy that is unspeakable and full of glory, 
paint the future in the radiance of a glorious morn- 
ing, and give assurance of an abundant entrance into 
the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus 
Christ. Glory to God in the highest heavens! 



WHAT MUST I DO TO BE SAVED? 
A SERMON 

1 SHALL begin this discourse withont a text, but 
will introduce a number of texts in the develop- 
ment of the theme. This is the most interesting, 
important and far-reaching question that ever fell 
from human lips, and it deserves the most careful, 
patient and thorough consideration that men can 
bestow upon it. A few preliminary remarks are in 
order. The question is supposed to be asked by one 
who has never obeyed the gospel, and is therefore 
an alien to the commonwealth of Israel, and a stranger 
to the covenant of promise. The question implies 
that the inquirer realizes that he is under the con- 
demnation of sin and hence is lost. It also implies 
that the querist understands that he must do some- 
thing to be saved. The correct answer to the ques- 
tion must come from the word of the living God, for 
no one is competent to solve the problem but the one 
against whom sin is committed, and who can take 
into consideration all the interests that are involved, 
and so adjust the matters that are concerned that 
there will be no conflict between justice and mercy. 
The answer to the question requires the exercise of 
infinite wisdom and love, and this limits qualification 
to answer to almighty God. 

These things being premised, I approach the dis- 
cussion of the subject in hand through the following 



74 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

statement: The Scriptures plainly teach that men 
must be saved from their sins according to the terms 
of a covenant established by divine authority between 
God and men. And here it is pertinent to remark 
that a covenant between God and man is different, 
in the making, from covenants established between 
men. In the latter the parties to the covenant are 
equal, and each has something to say as to the terms 
of the contract. But in the former such is not the 
case, and God dictates all the terms of the covenant, 
while man does nothing but accept or reject what 
God prescribes. And this is well, for it precludes 
the possibility of error in the make-up of the cove- 
nant, and gives ample assurance that compliance with 
the terms of the covenant on the part of man will 
infallibly lead to the desired results. 

Just here the following question emerges: Under 
what covenant are we to seek salvation now? God 
has made several covenants with the children of men, 
and it is important that we ascertain which of these 
covenants is in force at the present time, and unless 
we do this we can not proceed with a proper degree 
of certainty. And here, as all along the line of our 
investigation, we must make our appeal to the inspired 
Scriptures, for they alone can furnish us the infor- 
mation we need. A long time after the death of 
Moses, Jehovah, speaking through a prophet, said: 

"Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make 
a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house 
of Judah: not according to the covenant that I made with 
their fathers when I took them by the hand to bring them 
out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, 
although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord. But 
this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel 
after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my law in their 



WHAT MUST I DO TO BE SAVED? 75 

inward parts, and in their heart will I write it; and I will 
be their God, and they shall be my people: and they shall 
teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his 
brother, saying. Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, 
from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the 
Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin will I 
remember no more'* (Jer. 31:31-34). 

Here we have a striking contrast between the cove- 
nant that God made with Israel at Mount Sinai, and 
the one He afterwards promised to make with the 
house of Israel and the house of Judah. This proph- 
ecy Paul quotes in his letter to the Hebrews, and 
applies it to the new covenant which was sealed with 
the blood of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. (Read 
Heb. 8:8-12.) The old covenant was made and 
mediated through Moses, but the new covenant was 
made and mediated through the Lord Jesus Christ. 
The old was written upon tables of stone, but the new 
is written upon fleshly tables of the heart. Many 
were embraced in the old, who knew not the Lord 
and had to be taught to know Him, but all those 
embraced in the new know Him, ''from the least 
of them unto the greatest of them.'* Under the old, 
sins were forgiven only provisionally, but under the 
new they are forgiven absolutely: ''Your sins and 
your iniquities I will remember no more.'' The old 
was a temporary covenant, "In that he saith, A new 
covenant, he hath made the first old. But that which is 
becoming old and waxeth aged is nigh unto vanishing 
away," but the new is an eternal covenant, "Now 
the God of peace, who brought again from the dead 
the great shepherd of the sheep with the blood of an 
eternal covenant," etc. 

Thus it plainly appears that the covenant under 
which we must seek and find salvation is the new 



76 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

covenant which is mediated by Jesus Christ, and 
which makes provision for the absolute forgiveness 
of sin, and eternal life for those who are embraced 
in it. This being the case, it becomes necessary for 
us to ascertain when that covenant went into effect 
and became operative in the accomplishment of its 
gracious purposes. This matter is set forth with 
remarkable clearness and force in the ninth chapter 
of Hebrews in the following language: 

*'And for this cause he is the mediator of a new covenant, 
that a death having taken place for the redemption of the 
transgressions that were under the first covenant, they that 
have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inher- 
itance. For where a testament is, there must of necessity be 
the death of him that made it. For a testament is of force 
where there hath been death: for it doth never avail while he 
that made it liveth*' (Heb. 9: 15-17). 

In this passage the writer shows that this covenant 
of grace which God has made with the children of 
men is based upon a principle that prevails among 
men with respect to testaments or covenants or wills. 
A covenant is a testament and a testament is a will, 
and any one of these synonyms may be used to 
designate the contract which God has made with men 
in regard to salvation, and Paul uses two of them in 
the passage just cited; namely, covenant and testa- 
ment; or, rather, the translators use these two words, 
for but one word (diatlieekee) is used in the original. 
That principle is that a will or testament, in the 
sense in which these terms are used in the foregoing 
quotation, does not go into effect and become opera- 
tive till after the death of him that made it. This 
well-known principle the inspired writer applies to 
Christ and His will or testament, and thus shows that 



WHAT MUST I DO TO BE SAVED? 77 

His will did not go into effect or become operative 
till after His death. While a man lives, though his 
will may be made and put away for safe-keeping, he 
can dispose of his property as he pleases. If he 
chooses to give a daughter a piano or a son an auto- 
mobile, he can do so, and no one may say him nay. 
But when he dies his will becomes the instrument 
according to which his property is to be disposed of, 
and nothing that he may have done before cuts any 
figure in the administration of the will. Whatever 
his children get out of his estate now they must 
inherit according to the terms of the will, and no 
special gift that he may have bestowed upon any one 
beforehand is any precedent for inheritance under 
the will. 

This same principle applies to Christ and His will, 
and if this were generally understood, there would be 
less confusion with regard to the terms of salvation 
under the will or testament of Jesus Christ. While 
He was living He had authority to forgive sins, and 
could do so on any condition or no condition, accord- 
ing to His own option. This He made plain in the 
case of the paralytic to whom He said, ''Man, thy 
sins are forgiven thee," on account of which he was 
accused of blasphemy by the Pharisees. In defending 
Himself against this charge, he said: ''But that you 
may know that the Son of man hath authority on 
earth to forgive sins (he said unto him that was 
palsied), I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy 
couch, and go unto thy house. And immediately he 
rose up before them, and took up that whereon he lay, 
and departed to his house, glorifying God'' (Luke 
5:24, 25). In several other instances He exercised 
His prerogative to forgive sins, as in the case of the 



78 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

thief on the cross, to whom He said, ** To-day shalt 
thou be with me in paradise,'* thus implying that his 
sins had been forgiven. 

But these are cases that took place while the 
Saviour was still living, and hence they are not prec- 
edents for those who live under the will of Christ, 
which was made operative by His death. The ques- 
tion is, **What must I do to be saved?" under the 
will or testament of the Lord Jesus Christ, and not, 
**What did a dying thief have to do to be saved while 
Jesus was still living on the earth?" The Master 
had the advantage of all others in that He could 
make His will after His death, because He arose 
from the dead and lived for a time again in this 
world, and it was during this time, but before He 
left the earth, that He made His will, and this is all 
that was necessary. We are now ready to open the 
archives of divine truth, and make a search for the 
precious document that makes provision for the salva- 
tion of men at the present time. After the Saviour 
arose from the dead He made the following proclama- 
tion: *'A11 authority hath been given unto me in 
heaven and on earth. Go ye therefore, and make 
disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the 
name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy 
Spirit: teaching them to observe all things whatso- 
ever I commanded you ; and lo, I am with you always, 
even unto the end of the world." 

This is a most wonderful enunciation, and it puts 
behind the Lord's commands universal authority, so 
that they are as secure and stedfast as the throne of 
almighty God. In a general way this language tells 
us how to come into that relation to the august name 
of God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, and the 



WHAT MUST I DO TO BE SAVED? 79 

Holy Spirit the Comforter, in which salvation is 
secured. Those who are sufiieiently discipled to 
Christ to believe in Him as the Son of God are to be 
baptized into that name, and thus brought into the 
relation of salvation to the great triumvirate of the 
universe, so that God becomes their Father, Jesus 
Christ their High Priest and Advocate, and the Holy 
Spirit their Comforter. The matter is presented 
somewhat more specifically in the following language: 
"Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to 
the whole creation. He that believeth and is baptized 
shall be saved; but he that disbelieveth shall be con- 
demned" (Mark 16:15, 16). This presents the will 
or testament of Christ in very plain and specific 
terms, and it corresponds to the following prophetical 
description of the way of the Lord: ''And a high- 
way shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called 
The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over 
it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, yea 
fools, shall not err therein" (Isa. 35:8). ''He that 
believeth and is baptized shall be saved." Is it 
possible to make a plainer or simpler statement than 
that? In this pronouncement salvation is promised 
to a baptized believer, and promised by Him who is 
possessed of "aU authority in heaven and on earth," 
and who can be depended upon to fulfill His promise 
to the letter. 

This promise is so plain in itself that it would be 
extremely difficult to make it plainer by explanation. 
The statement that two and two make four needs 
neither explanation nor proof, for it is axiomatically 
true. The same is the case with respect to the decla- 
ration that "he that believeth and is baptized shall 
be saved" Here belief and baptism stand between 



80 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

a sinner and salvation, and to reach the salvation the 
sinner must pass through both faith or belief and 
baptism. Perhaps an illustration will serve a good 
purpose at this point: A man of large wealth and 
abounding benevolence dies and leaves a will in which 
he makes certain citizens of the town in which he 
lives heirs to his estate. The clause in the will, that 
makes this provision, reads thus: ''He that can read 
and write shall have one thousand dollars." Here 
ability to read and write is placed between the pros- 
pective heir and the inheritance, and every rightful 
claimant must possess this ability, and it seems that 
there is no room for misunderstanding about it. But 
through some strange idiosyncrasy a claimant appears 
who can read, but can not write, and demands a 
thousand dollars under the will. But he is told that 
he is not an heir according to the terms of the will; 
that the will requires that a rightful claimant must 
be able to both read and write. ''But," says the 
claimant, "I do not understand the will that way. 
As I interpret the will, one who can read is entitled 
to a thousand dollars, whether he can write or not." 
*'But," says the trustee, "your understanding of the 
will has nothing to do with the distribution of this 
estate. The will speaks for itself, and you are entitled 
to nothing under it unless you can both read and 
write." "But," says the claimant, "I do not inter- 
pret the will that way, and, unless you give me a 
thousand dollars under that will, I will sue you for 
that amount." "But," says the trustee, "it is not 
your province to interpret this will, and you can get 
nothing under it, and if you think you can collect 
your claim by law, go ahead." And he goes ahead 
and brings suit. Is there a court on the face of the 



WHAT MUST I DO TO BE SAVED? 81 

earth that would sustain that claim? Certainly not; 
but the terms of this will are no plainer than those 
of the will of the Lord Jesus Christ which says, "He 
that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." 

When Jesus Christ made His will He put it in 
the hands of the apostles to be administered under 
the guidance of the Holy Spirit, telling them to abide 
in Jerusalem till they should be endued with power 
from on high, or until they should receive the Spirit 
that was to guide them into all the truth. It will 
help us, in our study of the subject in hand, to 
examine the preaching of those Spirit-filled and Spirit- 
guided men who spake as the Spirit gave them utter- 
ance. Let us, therefore, begin at the very commence- 
ment of the apostolic ministry, and thus ascertain 
how those inspired men of God answered the impor- 
tant question that we are considering. According to 
their Lord's instruction they tarried in Jerusalem 
till they received the baptism of the Holy Spirit and 
were thus qualified to enter upon the work of admin- 
istering the will or testament of the risen and glorified 
Son of God. ''When the day of Pentecost was now 
come'* this wonderful phenomenon occurred, and the 
apostles were equipped and qualified to begin their 
great work. This they did by preaching for the first 
time in all the world that gospel which is the power 
of God unto salvation. They set forth with telling 
effect the great facts concerning the death, burial and 
resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ — which facts, 
according to Paul's analysis of the gospel as given 
in the fifteenth chapter of his first letter to the 
Corinthians, constitute the gospel that men are to 
believe in order to be saved. Peter's marvelous dis- 
course convicted many of his hearers of sin, and 



82 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

caused them to exclaim: ''Brethren, what shall we do?** 
Of course these convicted inquirers wanted to 
know what they should do to escape the guilt and 
condemnation of their sins, and the question demanded 
an explicit and plain answer — an answer that would 
leave no room for doubt or misunderstanding — and 
here it is: ''Repent ye, and be baptized every one of 
you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission 
of your sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the 
Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:38). The gospel, in answering 
the vital question before us, always begins with 
inquirers just where it finds them. Let it be noted 
that these inquirers were not told to believe, for the 
simple reason that they were already believers, as 
their pointed and searching question clearly indicated. 
The first thing that Peter told them to do was to 
"repent," and this brings to view an item in the 
Saviour's will that is not expressed in the Great 
Commission, though it is clearly implied there, and is 
expressed in the following language addressed to the 
apostles after His resurrection, and recorded by Luke: 
"Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer, and 
rise again from the dead the third day; and that 
repentance and remission of sins should be preached 
in his name unto all the nations, beginning from 
Jerusalem." From this we see that repentance is 
one of the terms or conditions upon which the gospel 
offers salvation to the children of men. Repentance 
and remission of sins were to be preached in the name 
of Jesus Christ, and we find Peter adhering to this 
program with exactness. He says, "Repent ye, and 
be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus 
Christ," and this the inquirers were to do "unto the 
remission" of their sins. 



WHAT MUST I DO TO BE SAVED? 83 

This is a very plain and explicit statement, and 
misunderstanding seems quite out of the question. 
Those believers were to repent and be baptized that 
their sins might be remitted or blotted out. In other 
words, they were to comply with the terms of the 
Lord's will that they might attain the salvation which 
that will or covenant bequeathes. The Greek here 
rendered ''unto the remission of your sins" is eis 
aphesin toon hamartioon, and it will help us to a 
proper understanding of the phrase as it occurs in 
another connection. When He instituted the Lord's 
Supper, the Master, in speaking of the fruit of the 
vine, said, "Drink ye all of it; for this is my blood 
of the covenant, which is poured out for many unto 
remission of sins' ^ — eis aphesin Jiamartioon. Of 
course there can be no controversy as to the import 
of this expression in this connection. The blood of 
the Lamb of God was poured out in order to the 
remission of sins, or that sins might be remitted. We 
have this identical expression in Acts 2 : 38, and 
identical expressions must have identical meanings 
unless there is something in a context that requires 
it to be otherwise. In the absence of this principle 
no reliance can be placed in human speech as a safe 
medium of communication between intelligent minds. 
There is absolutely nothing in the context of Acts 
2 : 38 to require eis apJiesin Jiamartioon, as there 
used, to mean anything different from what it means 
in Matt. 26:28. If the blood of Christ was poured 
out in order that sins might be forgiven, then believ- 
ers were told on the day of Pentecost to repent and 
be baptized in order that their sins might be forgiven. 

The consensus of modern scholarship abundantly 
sustains the position just enunciated. Perhaps Amer* 



84 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

ican Presbyterianism never produced a greater exposi- 
tor of the Scriptures than Dr. Albert Barnes. In 
studying this subject in 1870 I wrote to Dr. Barnes 
and asked him to give me as a scholar, without any 
reference to its theological bearing, his understanding 
of the meaning of the Greek preposition eis as used 
in Acts 2 : 38. He replied in the following courteous 
and satisfactory manner: 

Philadelphia, August 18, 1870. 
Eev. J. B. Briney: 

My Dear Sir — I received your favor this morning. My 
knowledge of Greek is very imperfect, and no great value 
should be attached to my opinion on a question of Greek 
criticism. But it seems to me the word eis, in the passage 
referred to (Acts 2: 38), relates to the entire previous sentence. 
"Eepent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of 
Jesus Christ" eis — unto, or in order to, or with reference to 
— "the remission of sins," etc. That is, the repentance and 
baptism both have reference to the remission of sins; or the 
entire process, so to speak, in the divine arrangement for the 
remission of sins, embraces this, or this is the complete process 
appointed by God in connection with the pardon of sin. 
Whether a man can be saved without baptism is a question 
not connected with the exegesis of the passage; but the design 
of Peter, as I understand it, is to state what is the complete 
divine arrangement in order to the forgiveness of sins. (Com- 
pare Mark 16: 16.) 

I regret that I have not a copy of the Syriac Bible to 
answer your other question. I sold my library, and, of the 
few books that I have, I have no Syriac books among them. 
I am, very truly yours, Albert Barnes. 

This is a very explicit and lucid explanation of 
the passage before us, and brings out its meaning 
with remarkable force. The modesty of Dr. Barnes 
led him to disclaim having accurate knowledge of the 
Greek language, but every well-informed person knows 
that he was a fine scholar. Along with Dr. Barnes 



WHAT MUST I DO TO BE SAVED? 85 

may be ranked Prof. H. B. Hackett, an eminent 
Greek linguist of the Baptist Church. In his ''Com- 
mentary on Acts of the Apostles ' ' he says : 

— eis aphesin hamartioon, in order to the remission of sins 
(Matt. 26:28; Luke 3:3), we connect, naturally, with both 
the preceding verbs. This clause states the motive or object 
which should induce them to repent and be baptized. It 
enforces the entire exhortation, not one part of it to the exclu- 
sion of the other. 

This is a very clear exposition of the passage, and 
makes its meaning as lucid as light itself. 

The standard Greek-English lexicon of the New 
Testament at the present time is that of Professor 
Thayer. In regard to the passage in hand this great 
author makes the following pointed statement: ^'Eis 
apliesin Jianiartioon, to obtain the forgiveness of sins, 
Acts 2:38.'' 

In a letter to me, dated May 8, 1884, Prof. J. R. 
Boise, Ph. D., LL. D., of the Baptist Union Theological 
Seminary, in response to a letter of inquiry from 
me, said : 

In Acts 2 : 38, we find repentance, baptism in faith (leading 
into the remission of sins). "In the name of Jesus Christ" 
can only mean faith in Him; and so it is understood by all 
the best commentators. Eis aphesin, etc., belongs with the two 
verbs preceding. We have, then, repentance, baptism in faith, 
the remission of sins, the gift of the Holy Spirit, all in regular 
sequence. 

Referring to another passage of Scripture, the 
same distinguished scholar says: 

In 1 Pet. 3: 21 we have baptism described, not as a mere 
outward cleansing, but as something demanded by a good con- 
science towards God. This means Christian experience. The 
order of thought, then, is Christian experience, baptism, salva- 



86 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

Hon. Thus my argument is stated briefly. I honestly think I 
am right grammatically, logically, doctrinally. 

In 1876, Robert T. Mathews, then Professor of 
Greek in Eminence College, Eminence, Ky., addressed 
the following query to the professors of Greek in a 
number of the universities and colleges of this 
country : 

Will you be so kind as to give me your translation of the 
preposition eis in Acts 2: 38, and your opinion, as a Greek 
scholar, as to what grammatical relation it expresses between 
the predicates of the verse and the phrase aphesin hamartioon? 
I shall be obliged for your answer in the light of scholarship, 
aside from all theological applications of the verse. 

To this request Professor Mathews received answ^ers 
from quite a number of the finest Greek scholars of 
the day, some of which I present in this connection: 

Yours of the 9th inst. is just received. I shall translate 
Acts 2:38 literally thus: Bepent, and let every one of you ie 
baptized in (or on) the name of Jesus Christ unto the remis- 
sion of sins. The preposition eis seems to denote the object 
and end of the two verbs which precede in the imperative. 
In other words, the remission of sins is the object and end 
(or result) of repentance and baptism. The meaning may, 
perhaps, be more definitely and unequivocally expressed thus: 
Eepent, and let every one of you be baptized to the end that 
your sins may be forgiven. — Professor Tyler, of Amherst 
College, Mass. 

In answer to your inquiry about the force of the preposi- 
tion eis, in the passage of the New Testament to which you 
refer (Acts 2:38), I should say that it denoted intention or 
purpose, "with a view to," much as if it had been written, 
' ' so as to obtain the remission of sins. ' ' I speak, however, 
wholly from the standpoint of classic Greek, not being familiar 
with the changes introduced by the Hellenistic. As to any 
theological bearings that the subject may have, I am wholly 
indifferent. — Professor Flagg, of Cornell University, N. Y. 



WHAT MUST I DO TO BE SAVED? 87 

In my opinion, eis, in Acts 2: 38, denotes purpose, and may 
be rendered ^Hn order to,*' or, as in our English version 
"for." ''Eis aphesin hamartioon" suggests the motive or 
object contemplated in the action of the two preceding verbs. 
— Professor Harkness, of Brown University, E. I. 

It is my opinion that eis is to be connected with both 
predicates, and that it denotes an object or end in view. I 
am inclined to think that the phrase, "in the name of Christ," 
though grammatically limiting only iaptistheeti, does, in 
thought, modify the connection of eis, the ideas standing logic- 
ally in the following order; viz.: Having been shown your ill 
behavior against the Messiah, put faith in (the name of) 
Christ; on the basis of that faith, repent, and (confess), be 
baptized, and then be forgiven — eis connecting aphesis, not with 
the two predicates separately, but with the whole preceding 
part of the sentence. — Professor Proctor, of Dartmouth Col- 

3, N. Y. 



In reply to your inquiry, I would say that, in my judg- 
ment, the preposition eis, in the verse referred to, expresses 
the relation of aim or end in view, answering the question, 
eis ti (for what?), and to be translated by "unto," "in order 
to, " " for. ' ' This sense of eis, as you doubtless know, is 
recognized by Liddell and Scott for classical, by Winer for 
New Testament, usage. — Professor D'Ooge, of Ann Arbor, 
Mich. 

If a question in Greek criticism, can be settled by 
scholarship, it is surely settled that Acts 2 : 38 teaches 
that believers are to repent and be baptized that 
their sins may be forgiven; and this is in strict 
accord with the will or covenant of the Lord Jesus 
Christ, and shows us how the apostles understood that 
document. 

Dr. J. "W. Willmarth, a learned Baptist theologian, 
uses the following language in regard to the meaning 
of Acts 2 : 38 : 

It is our business simply and honestly to ascertain the exact 
meaning of the inspired originals, as the sacred penman 



88 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

intended to convey it to the mind of the contemporary reader. 
Away vdth the question, "What ought Peter to have said in 
the interest of orthodoxy?" ... As to Campbellism, that 
specter which haunts many good men and terrifies them into a 
good deal of bad interpretation, shall we gain anything by 
maintaining a false translation, and allowing the Campbellites 
to be the champions of the true, with the world's scholarship 
on their side, as against us? . . . When the Campbellites 
translate '4n order to" in Acts 2:38, they translate correctly. 

Perhaps Dr. Willmarth is to be excused for his use 
of the epithet ''Campbellites," on the ground that 
he was unconsciously dominated by profound prej- 
udice against a large body of respectable Christian 
people; and this shows that he had no intention of 
promoting the doctrinal position of the disciples of 
Christ in regard to the design of baptism. His 
scholarship simply drove him to the admission that the 
phrase in question should be translated ''in order to 
the remission of sins," and he had the honesty to 
confess that the "world's scholarship" has so decided. 
No one has anything to gain by attempting to resist 
this conclusion, fortified as it is, on every side, by 
the learning of the world, and why any one should 
desire to resist it is a curious problem. 

Let us now consider the case of Saul of Tarsus. 
He was an unbelieving Jew who "persecuted the 
church of God and wasted it." He was on his way 
from Jerusalem to Damascus with a commission from 
the high priest to arrest *'any that were of the Way, 
whether men or women," and "bring them bound to 
Jerusalem." As he journeyed, and when he drew 
near to Damascus, he had a most wonderful and 
thrilling experience. A light from heaven brighter 
than that of the noonday sun shone round about him, 
and he heard a voice saying unto him: "Saul, Saul, 



WHAT MUST I DO TO BE SAVED? 89 

why persecutes! thou me? it is hard for thee to kick 
against the goad/' In astonishment Saul said: ''Who 
art thou, Lord?" A better rendering of this would 
be, "Who art thou, sir?" for Saul did not know who it 
was that spoke to him. The answer, however, made 
it known to him who the speaker was: ''I am Jesus 
whom thou persecutest. " Now Saul knows who the 
august speaker is, and he exclaims: ''What shall I 
do, Lord?" That vital question received no imme- 
diate answer, but the Lord said: "Arise, and go into 
Damascus; and there it shall be told thee of all 
things which are appointed for thee to do." The 
Master had made His will once for all, and put it 
into the hands of men to be executed, and He did not 
propose to nullify that will by telling people what 
to do to be saved, in person. If He had done that 
in Saul's case, others would have had ground to 
expect the same thing, and confusion would have 
been the result. Saul had to inherit the blessing of 
salvation according to the provisions of the will, the 
same as others. Jesus appeared to him for a dif- 
ferent purpose altogether, which he expressed in the 
following language: "But arise and stand upon thy 
feet: for to this end have I appeared unto thee, to 
appoint thee a minister and a witness both of the 
things wherein thou hast seen me, and of the things 
wherein I will appear unto thee; delivering thee from 
the people and from the Gentiles, unto whom I send 
thee, to open their eyes, that they may turn from 
darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto 
God, that they may receive remission of sins and an 
inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith 
in me." Saul was to be an apostle and bear witness 
to the resurrection of Christ, and hence it was nee- 



90 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

essary for him to have personal knowledge of that 
fact, and this he could not have without seeing Him 
after He arose. 

Under instruction thus received, Saul went into 
Damascus and put up in the house of one Judas on 
Straight Street, and there spent three days fasting 
and praying. At the end of this time a man named 
Ananias, under specific divine instruction, found him 
and told him that the Lord, even Jesus, who appeared 
unto him in the way as he came, had sent him to tell 
him (Saul) all things that were appointed for him 
to do, and that he might receive his sight and be 
filled with the Holy Spirit. Saul was then a penitent 
believer, and Ananias began with him from that point 
of view. He neither told him to believe nor to repent, 
for he had been believing and repenting for three 
days. He simply told him to comply with that part 
of the will of Christ which he had not yet obeyed, 
and said: *'And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be 
baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on his 
name." A better translation would be, ''Having 
called on his name," for the participle {epikale- 
samenos) is an aorist and denotes past time. Saul 
had been calling ''on his name" in prayer for three 
days, and now his further duty is pointed out to him, 
and he is told to complete the process appointed by 
the Lord in His will or testament, whereby salvation 
from sin is secured. ''Arise," said the man of God, 
"and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, having 
called on his name." Saul was to go on and fully 
comply with the will of Him on whose name he had 
been calling, in order that his sins might be blotted 
out. It is useless to call on the name of the Lord, 
and not obev His commandments. He Himself savs: 



WHAT MUST I DO TO BE SAVED? 91 

"Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things 
which I say?'* And He further says: ''Every one 
that Cometh unto me, and heareth my words, and 
doeth them, I will show you to whom he is like: he is 
like a man building a house, who digged and went 
deep, and laid a foundation upon a rock: and when 
a flood arose, the stream brake against that house, 
and could not shake it: because it had been well 
builded. But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like 
a man that built a house upon the earth without 
a foundation; against which the stream brake, and 
straightway it fell in; and the ruin of that house 
was great." Saul arose and was baptized, and thus 
reached the salvation promised by the Lord in His 
will which says: *'He that believeth and is baptized 
shall be saved." 

Let us now consider the case of the Philippian 
jailor as it is recorded in the sixteenth chapter of 
Acts. Paul and Silas were arrested, beaten with 
many stripes, cast into prison, and their feet made 
fast in the stocks. At midnight they prayed and 
sang praises to God, and there was an earthquake 
that shook the prison, opened its doors, and loosed 
the bands of the prisoners. This occurrence awakened 
the jailor, and when he saw the situation, supposing 
the prisoners had escaped, he was about to kill him- 
self. But Paul prevented the rash act by assuring 
him that all the prisoners were there, and being thus 
assured, and Iniowing that what had happened was 
the result of some divine intervention with which 
Paul was connected, he sprang into the presence of 
the apostle, and brought him and his companion out, 
and said: ''Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" The 
jailor was a pagan unbeliever, and Paul answered 



92 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

him from that point of view, and said to him: 
"Believe on the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved, 
thou and thy house/' Faith would open the way for 
him and his family to salvation, and that was the 
first step that they had to take, and as faith comes 
of hearing the word of God, Paul ''spake the word 
of the Lord unto him, with all that were in his 
house.'' In speaking to them the word of the Lord, 
the apostle presented to them the Lord's will con- 
cerning salvation, and the jailor ''took them the same 
hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was 
baptized, he and all his, immediately." Thus we see 
that regularly and systematically the apostles preached 
the gospel according to the will or testament of the 
Lord Jesus Christ, and, according to the Master's 
command, told those to whom they preached: "He 
that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." This 
they did whether in Jerusalem, Samaria, Corinth, or 
on the public highway. On "the way that goeth 
down from Jerusalem unto Gaza," Philip encoun- 
tered a distinguished man from Ethiopia who was 
reading a beautiful portion of the word of God; and, 
being invited to do so, he began from the same Scrip- 
ture and "preached unto him Jesus" as they rode 
along in the Ethiopian's chariot. Presently, and while 
Philip was preaching Jesus to the eunuch, "they came 
unto a certain water; and the eunuch saith. Behold, 
here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?" 
Dr. Isaac Taylor Hinton, a prominent Baptist min- 
ister, in his book entitled "A History of Baptism," 
in dealing with this case, says, "We see from this 
that preaching Jesus includes preaching baptism," 
and that is a self-evident proposition, for in no other 
way could the eunuch have learned that it was his 



WHAT MUST I DO TO BE SAVED? 93 

duty and privilege to be baptized. Apostolic practice 
was uniform in this matter, for the apostles and 
primitive evangelists were always faithful and loyal 
to their commission, and they were neither ashamed 
nor afraid to preach a full gospel. 

From the foregoing investigation it appears to be 
abundantly clear, in the light of God's word, that 
salvation is promised in the gospel to those who 
believe with all their hearts that Jesus is the Christ, 
the Son of the living God, earnestly repent of their 
sins, and are baptized ''into the name of the Father, 
and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." We are 
especially interested to know what God has covenanted 
to do, and, having ascertained that, we should be in 
haste to comply with the conditions upon which He 
has promised to save men. And this we should do 
without question, feeling assured that God's wisdom 
is infinitely superior to that of man. Doing this, we 
may stand upon the exceeding great and precious 
promises of God, and rejoice in the hope of immor- 
tality and eternal life. Jehovah makes no mistakes, 
and when we do what He says the matter of our 
salvation is put beyond a peradventure. We know 
by His will that we are children of God, and, if 
children, then heirs of God and joint-heirs with Jesus 
Christ, our blessed Lord and glorious Redeemer. 



THE MINISTRY OF ANGELS 

A SERMON 

THERE is a class of creatures in God's universe 
that are called angels. This term is not descrip- 
tive of nature or character, but of function. The 
word means a messenger, and is applied in the Scrip- 
tures to men, and even to inanimate objects. John 
the Baptist is called an angel in the passage which 
says, ''Behold, I send my messenger [angelos] before 
thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee;'* 
and it is applied to the winds where it is said, ''Who 
maketh his angels winds, and his ministers a flame of 
fire." The meaning of this passage can be brought 
out a little more clearly by a little transposition, as 
follows: "Who maketh winds his angels, and a flame 
of fire his ministers." God makes wind and fire His 
messengers and ministers to execute His will. He 
used the wind to send locusts into Egypt, and fire 
to destroy Sodom, thus employing these agencies to 
accomplish His purposes. But the term is constantly 
used in the word of God to indicate a numerous class 
of intelligent beings that continually wait upon God 
as His messengers to go hither and thither to carry 
out the will of Jehovah, of whom it is said; "Are 
they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to do ser- 
vice for the sake of them that shall inherit salva- 
tion?" This passage may be regarded as the text 
for this sermon. 

94 



THE MINISTRY OF ANGELS 95 

Angels have borne a eonspienons part in the deal- 
ings of God with the children of men. When sin 
entered into the world and made it necessary for 
man to be kept away from the tree of life, that 
task was assigned to a class of angels called ''the 
cherubim,'' who stood guard about that tree with 
''the flame of a sword which turned every way, to 
keep the way of the tree of life." The fruit of that 
tree contained the elixir of life, and if man had been 
permitted to continue to eat of that fruit, he would 
have lived forever as a sinner. He had hitherto been 
allowed to eat of that fruit, and its virtue was in his 
system and was transmissible, and this is probably the 
explanation of the great longevity of people in the 
early years of the human family. Adam and Eve had 
the virtue of that fruit in their systems, and trans- 
mitted it to their posterity till by natural processes 
it was eliminated, and men and women were made 
subject to the laws that govern animal life. This 
view of the matter, which I verily believe to be 
correct, relieves the fact, so abundantly stated in the 
Scriptures, that the ancients did live to be several 
hundred years old, one of them (Methuselah) reach- 
ing the age of 969 years of improbability. This is 
neither strange nor unreasonable in view of the theory 
that I have advanced. 

Angels are said to be possessed of great wisdom, 
as one might naturally expect. When Joab sent a 
woman of Tekoa to King. David to intercede with 
him in behalf of Absalom, who had committed a great 
crime against his sister, and David suspected that 
Joab had concocted the scheme and so expressed him- 
self to the woman, she said: "And my lord [the 
king] is wise, according to the wisdom of an angel 

7 



96 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

of God, to know all things that are in the earth." 
Wonderful strength is also ascribed to angels in the 
word of God. David says: "Bless the Lord, ye angels 
of his: ye mighty in strength, that fulfil his word, 
hearkening unto the voice of his word." Both wis- 
dom and power were often required of angels in 
executing the will of God, for many times difficult 
tasks were assigned to their hands. When a mob of 
Sodomites besieged the house of Lot, who was enter- 
taining two angels unawares, intent upon doing them 
violence, and Lot was vainly trying to protect them, 
and was himself about to be roughly handled by the 
mob, the angels protected him, and struck with blind- 
ness the men who were acting so outrageously. 
Among the many thrilling things that John saw upon 
the island of Patmos, he beheld *'a strong angel 
that took up a stone as it were a great millstone 
and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with a mighty 
fall shall Babylon, the great city, be cast down, and 
shall be found no more at all." This is no doubt a 
figure of speech, but it is based on the fact that 
angels are possessed of great strength, so that one 
might pick up a great millstone, as a child picks up a 
pebble, and hurl it into the sea. 

Angels are said to exist in vast numbers. Daniel 
describes one of his visions as follows: "1 beheld 
till thrones were placed, and one that was ancient of 
days [God] did sit: his raiment was white as snow, 
and the hair of his head like pure wool ; his throne 
was fiery flames, and the wheels thereof burning fire. 
A fiery stream issued and came forth from before 
him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and 
ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him" 
(Dan. 7:9, 10). These thousands of thousands that 



THE MINISTRY OF ANGELS 97 

stood before the ** ancient of days" were undoubtedly 
His angels, and the expression indicates that their 
number was infinite. In speaking of the blessings 
that we enjoy under the new covenant, the writer of 
the letter to the Hebrews says: ''But ye are come 
unto mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, 
the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable nosts of 
angels, to the general assembly and church of the 
firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the 
Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made 
perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, 
and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better 
than that of Abel" (Heb. 12:22-24). This passage 
declares that the hosts of angels are innumerable, and 
shows that God is abundantly supplied with agents to 
do His will at all times and under all circumstances. 
The angels are also swift in their movements. Daniel 
says: ''Yea, while I was speaking in prayer, the man 
Gabriel, whom I had seen iii the vision at the begin- 
ning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about 
the time of the evening oblation" (Dan. 9:21). From 
Luke 1:26 we learn that "the man Gabriel" was an 
angel. 

The sad feature of this subject is that angels are 
peccable, and that some of them did actually sin and 
lose their inheritance in heaven. Peter says: "For 
if God spared not angels when they sinned, but cast 
them down to hell, and committed them to pits of 
darkness, to be reserved unto judgment," etc. (2 Pet. 
2:4). When sin arose in heaven it led to an attempt 
at revolution, and there was a battle royal for 
supremacy. In Revelation we find the following brief 
account of that startling event: "And there was war 
in heaven: Michael and his angels going forth to war 



98 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

with the dragon; and the dragon warred and his 
angels; and they prevailed not, neither was their 
place found any more in heaven. And the great 
dragon was cast down, the old serpent, he that is 
called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole 
world; he was cast down to the earth, and his angels 
were cast down with him" (Rev. 12:7-9). It seems 
from this that he who became and was called ''the 
Devil and Satan" was originally an angel of light 
who occupied an exalted position among the hosts of 
heaven, but in an evil hour rebelled against the King 
eternal, immortal and invisible. This throws a side- 
light upon Paul's statement that a bishop should not 
be "a novice, lest being pufPed up he fall into the 
condemnation of the devil." ''The condemnation of 
the devil" means the condemnation into which the 
devil fell. It appears that this great spirit allowed 
himself to be overcome by an overweening ambition 
to usurp the place of God, and become the supreme 
ruler of the universe. He saw the Almighty sitting 
upon His throne of glory, arrayed in light and hold- 
ing in His hand the scepter of universal authority, 
and heard the ascriptions of praise that the shining 
ranks of angels accorded to Jehovah, and envy crept 
into his heart, and his pride prompted him to lead a 
revolt against the King of heaven, which ignominiously 
failed, and involved him in eternal ruin. How many 
souls have envy, jealousy and unholy ambition led 
to destruction! 

It is a source of comfort and confidence to the 
child of God to know that the holy angels are charged 
to look after and care for him as he engages in the 
battles of life, to help him to victory and the crown 
of immortality. In this assurance one of the Lord^s 



THE MINISTRY OF ANGELS 99 

servants rejoiced when he exultantly sang the ninety- 
first Psalm, which it will be interesting and profitable 
to read in this connection: 

*'He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High 
Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. 
I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress; 
My God, in whom I trust. 

For he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, 
And from the noisome pestilence. 
He shall cover thee with his pinions. 
And under his wings shalt thou take refuge: 
His truth is a shield and a buckler. 
Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night. 
Nor for the arrow that flieth by day; 
For the pestilence that walketh in darkness. 
Nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. 
A thousand shall fall at thy side. 
And ten thousand at thy right hand; 
But it shall not come nigh thee. 
Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold, 
And see the reward of the wicked. 
For thou, O Lord, art my refuge! 
Thou hast made the Most High thy habitation; 
There shall no evil befall thee. 
Neither shall any plague come nigh thy tent. 
For he shall give his angels charge over thee, 
To keep thee in all thy ways. 
They shall bear thee up in their hands, 
Lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. 
Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder; 
The young lion and the serpent shalt thou trample under foot. 
Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver 

him: 
I will set him on high, because he hath known my name. 
He shall call upon me, and I will answer him; 
I will be with him in trouble: 
I will deliver him, and honor him. 
With long life will I satisfy Mm, 
And show him my salvation," 



100 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

This Scripture contains teaching that is wholesome 
and very full of comfort to those who are serving 
Him who has at His command these innumerable 
hosts of angels whom He charges to watch over His 
people for their good. And it is plainly indicated 
in the word of God that these angels are interested 
in the welfare of the children of God, and it is 
expressly declared that they ''desire to look into'' the 
things that pertain to the redemption of the children 
of men. And it is also categorically declared in Holy 
Writ that ''the angel of the Lord encampeth round 
about them that fear him, and delivereth them,'' and 
we find a conspicuous historical instance of this in 
what occurred when the king of Syria sent a great 
company of soldiers to capture Elisha, the prophet 
of God. The soldiers went to Dothan, where the 
prophet was, and at night surrounded the city so that 
Elisha could not escape. When the servant of the 
prophet arose early next morning, and saw that the 
city was surrounded by Syrian soldiers, he was very 
much alarmed, and exclaimed: "Alas, my master! 
how shall we do?" But Elisha, in the exercise of 
that strong faith that supports men in the midst of 
trials and difficulties, and overcomes fear, quietly 
answered: "Fear not: for they that be with us are 
more than they that be with them." What a grand 
and admirable figure the prophet presents as he stands 
erect and speaks his confidence in God in the most 
unequivocal terms! He was disturbed by neither 
doubt nor fear, but was sustained by that trust in 
God which is a "shield and buclder" to those who 
commit their ways unto the Lord of hosts. 

Elisha prayed God to open the eyes of his servant 
that he might see what the prophet himself saw, and 



THE MINISTRY OF ANGELS 101 

thus be relieved of his fears; and when his eyes were 
opened in answer to the prayer of the man of faith, 
he saw that ''the mountain was full of horses and 
chariots of fire round about Elisha." These horses 
and chariots of fire were God's angels sent to encamp 
round about Elisha to deliver him from the power 
of the Syrians. Does God think less of His people 
now than He did then? Is He less careful for their 
welfare at the present time than He was in the cen- 
turies long agone? I trow not. We learn from His 
word that He is the same yesterday, to-day and for- 
ever, and that with Him there is neither variableness, 
nor shadow that is cast by turning, and it is not 
unlikely that the dullness of our eyes often keeps us 
from seeing God's angels hovering over us to protect 
us from dangers seen and unseen, or encamping 
round about us to deliver us from trials and perplex- 
ities from which we could not extricate ourselves. If 
I may be permitted a personal allusion, as I look back 
over my past life I think I can see more than one 
instance of the intervention of Divine Providence to 
succor me in time of danger, and it is a source of 
great pleasure to me to cherish this belief. It is the 
faith that overcomes the world, and brings us off 
conquerors, and even more than conquerors, over the 
difficulties and trials that beset us along the checkered 
pathway of life. To feel assured that angels that are 
strong, swift, and interested in the outcome of my 
warfare, are commissioned to attend me along the 
way, is a most comforting and encouraging considera- 
tion. May it not be that this is what the Saviour 
alluded to when He said, ''See that ye despise not 
one of these little ones: for I say unto you, that in 
heaven their angels do always behold the face of my 



102 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

Father who is in heaven"? This declaration certainly 
holds out the idea that there is a very close relation- 
ship between the ''little ones" that believe in Christ, 
and the beings that are called ''their angels," and 
that relationship is one of guardianship and protec- 
tion. 

We find another striking instance of angelic inter- 
vention, in behalf of the people of God, in what 
occurred when Sennacherib, king of Assyria, invaded 
Palestine in the days of Hezekiah, king of Judah, took 
a number of fenced cities, and threatened the destruc- 
tion of Jerusalem. The haughty Assyrian monarch 
sent a vaunting message to Hezekiah, in which he 
demanded his surrender, even bidding defiance to 
Jehovah. But Hezekiah took it to the Lord in prayer, 
and the Lord heard him, and sent Isaiah to him to 
give him assurance that he would be delivered from 
the snare of Sennacherib, and that the latter should 
meet with an overwhelming defeat, when, from every 
human point of view, this seemed impossible. But 
God, who rules in heaven and presides over the 
armies of men, had made bare His mighty arm to 
bring to naught the machinations of the proud 
Assyrian, and He would bring it to pass. So one 
night "the angel of the Lord went forth, and smote 
in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore 
and five thousand: and when men arose early in the 
morning, behold, they were all dead corpses. So 
Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and 
returned, and dwelt in Nineveh." Thus through the 
instrumentality of an angel the haughty and boasting 
king was utterly routed, and sent home in defeat and 
disgrace, to meditate upon the folly of men in 
attempting to measure arms with God. 



THE MINISTRY OF ANGELS 103 

It will be profitable and interesting to consider the 
intervention of angels in behalf of individuals, and 
the case of Daniel looms up as a striking example. 
The prophet had exposed himself to the penalty of 
being cast into the lions' den by refusing to comply 
with an edict that his enemies had induced King 
Darius to put forth to the effect that "whosoever shall 
ask a petition of any god or man for thirty days, 
save of thee, king, he shall be cast into the den 
of lions." This was the result of a despicable con- 
spiracy on the part of the envious colleagues of Daniel 
in oflice, that they might bring about his downfall. 
They knew that the prophet would not observe that 
edict, but would continue to pray to the God of the 
heavens and the earth, and so it turned out, for three 
times a day did Daniel, at a window of his chamber 
that opened towards Jerusalem, and in full view of 
his enemies who were watching him, pray and give 
thanks to Jehovah. This gave the jealous rivals of 
the prophet the opportunity they sought, and forth- 
with they brought the matter to the attention of the 
king and demanded that the law be enforced by 
feeding Daniel to hungry lions. The prophet stood 
high in the esteem and affections of the king, and it 
almost broke his heart when he saw the plight that 
his prime minister was in, and he ''set his heart on 
Daniel to deliver him: and he labored till the going 
down of the sun to rescue him," but the case was 
hopeless, for no law of the Medes and Persians could 
be changed or set aside, and the king had to obey his 
own edict, and order that Daniel be cast into the 
den of lions. But when he saw the noble man of 
God marching unabashed to his doom, he said to him, 
'*Thy God whom thou servest continually, he will 



104 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

deliver thee," and then went to his palace, and 
** passed the night fasting: neither were instruments 
of music brought before him: and his sleep fled from 
him." At the dawn of morning the king visited the 
den, and as he approached it he exclaimed: ''0 
Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God, whom 
thou servest continually, able to deliver thee from the 
lions?" To this earnest inquiry he received the 
following response: *'0 king, live for ever. My God 
hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths, 
and they have not hurt me: forasmuch as before him 
innocency was found in me; and also before thee, 
king, have I done no hurt." God used one of His 
angels to protect Daniel and confound his enemies, 
who were consigned to the fate that they had planned 
for the prophet. *'The angel of the Lord encampeth 
round about them that fear him, to deliver them." 
Another instance is found in the case of Hagar, 
who was unjustly driven from home by Sarah, her 
mistress, who had given her to Abram as a concubine 
that she might become a mother through her. Yonder 
she sits by a fountain of water in the wilderness, 
homeless and shelterless, lonely and crushed in heart. 
But presently she discovers that she is not alone, for 
an angel appears to her and tells her to return to her 
mistress and be submissive to her, and assures her 
that she would become the mother of a numerous 
posterity, which in those days was regarded as about 
the greatest boon that could come to a woman. She 
returned to her mistress, and by and by she gave 
birth to Ishmael, who, when he became a lad, dis- 
pleased Sarah by some childish antics the day Isaac 
was weaned, and again Hagar was driven from home. 
With a loaf of bread, a bottle of water, and a child 



I 



THE MINISTRY OF ANGELS 105 

as her heritage, she wanders in the wilderness of Beer- 
sheba till her supplies are exhausted, and then in 
despair she places her child in the shade of a bush 
to die, and goes far enough away from the scene not 
to see or hear the boy in his dying struggles, and 
sits down and weeps in agony and solitude. But 
"man's extremity is God's opportunity," and so ''the 
angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said 
unto her. What aileth thee, Hagar? Fear not; for 
God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is. 
Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand; 
for I will make him a great nation. And God opened 
her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went 
and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad a 
drink." God does not forsake His own, but charges 
His angels to care for them in time of dire need. 
What a source of joy and consolation this is! 

When righteous Lot was ''sore distressed by the 
lascivious life of the wicked Sodomites, and vexed his 
righteous soul from day to day with their lawless 
deeds," God sent a couple of His angels to deliver 
him from his troubles, and overwhelm the wicked city 
in a fearful destruction. When the children of Israel 
were oppressed by the Midianites, the angel of the 
Lord visited Gideon and used him, with three hundred 
carefully chosen men, to defeat the army of the 
oppressors and effect deliverance for the Israelites. 
When Elijah fled from the wrath of Jezebel, whose 
prophets he had slain, and took refuge under a 
juniper-tree over yonder in the wilderness, and 
"requested for himself that he might die," saying, 
"It is enough; now, Lord, take away my life; 
for I am not better than my fathers," an angel 
relieved him. And what shall I say more? for the time 



106 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

would fail me if I should attempt to tell of the 
many other cases of the ministry of angels in behalf of 
God's people, that are recorded in the Old Testament 
Scriptures. Those that have been cited are sufficient to 
inspire the servants of God with confidence that they 
are the objects of Jehovah's care and solicitude, and that 
He will use His angels to take care of them, and deliver 
them out of all their troubles. This confidence they 
should encourage and cultivate more and more as the 
days come and go, for thereby they become the better 
enabled to cast all their care upon Him who cares for 
them, and is able to succor them in time of need. 

Angels have been conspicuous for their agency in 
connection with the introduction and propagation of 
the gospel of the grace of God. After the silence of 
the voice of prophecy for centuries, an angel of the 
Lord appeared to Zacharias as *'he executed the 
priest's office before God in the order of his course," 
and said to him: *'Fear not, Zacharias: because thy 
supplication is heard, and thy wife Elisabeth shall 
bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. 
And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many 
shall rejoice at his birth. For he shall be great in 
the sight of the Lord, and he shall drink no wine nor 
strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy 
Spirit even from his mother's womb. And many of 
the children of Israel shall he turn unto the Lord 
their God. And he shall go before his face in the 
spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the 
fathers to the children, and the disobedient to walk 
in the wisdom of the just; to make ready for the 
Lord a people prepared for him." This message con- 
tained the twilight of the dawning day of redemption 
for the children of men, and presaged the near 



THE MINISTRY OF ANGELS 107 

approach of the time of salvation for those who sat 
in the region and shadow of death. 

A little later "the angel Gabriel was sent from 
God unto a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a 
virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, 
of the house of David; and the virgin's name was 
Mary. And he came in unto her, and said, Hail, 
thou that are highly favored, the Lord is with thee. 
But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and cast 
in her mind what manner of salutation this might be. 
And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for 
thou hast found favor with God. And behold, thou 
shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, 
and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, 
and shall be called the Son of the Most High: and 
the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his 
father David: and he shall reign over the house of 
Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no 
end. And Mary said unto the angel, How shall this 
be, seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered 
and said unto her, The Holy Spirit shall come upon 
thee, and the power of the Most High shall over- 
shadow thee: wherefore also the holy tiling which is 
begotten shall be called the Son of God. And, behold, 
Elisabeth thy kinswoman, she also hath conceived 
a son in her old age; and this is the sixth month 
with her who was called barren. For no word from 
God shall be void of power. And Mary said, Behold, 
the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according 
to thy word. And the angel departed from her." 
These are words that live and breathe, and pulsate 
with divine energy, and he who says, in view of 
these marvelous asseverations and others like them in 
the sacred record, that Jesus was the son of Joseph, 



108 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

simply crucifies the Lord afresh and puts him to an 
open shame! 

When Jesus was born, and Wise-men came from 
the east to find and worship Him, and thus stirred 
up the jealousy of Herod, who determined to kill 
Him, *'an angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in 
a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and 
his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there 
until I tell thee: for Herod will seek the young child 
to destroy him. And he arose and took the young 
child and his mother by night, and departed into 
Egypt; and was there until the death of Herod: that 
it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord 
through the prophet, saying. Out of Egypt have I 
called my Son." The night that Jesus was born in 
Bethlehem, an angel of the Lord stood by shepherds 
who were minding their flocks on the adjacent plains, 
and the glory of the. Lord shone round about them, 
''and they were sore afraid." But the angel said 
unto them: ''Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you 
good tidings of great joy which shall be to all the 
people: for there is born to you this day in the city 
of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord. And 
this is the sign unto you: Ye shall find the babe 
wrapped in swaddling clothes, and lying in a manger. 
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude 
of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, 
Glory to God in the highest. 
And on earth peace among men in whom he is well 

pleased." 

At the conclusion of the fearful ordeal through 
which the Master passed in the temptation in the 
wilderness, "angels came and ministered unto him." 
That is, they brought Him food, the thing of which 



THE MINISTRY OF ANGELS 109 

He was in sore need. God fed Elijah through the 
agency of ravens, but He employed angels to feed 
His Son who had resisted and defeated Satan in three 
successive and fearful attacks upon Him in efforts 
to induce Him to act upon the enemy's advice. Thus 
the Lord teaches His people not to lend a listening 
ear to the seductive and charming suggestions of the 
adversary, who, like a roaring lion, is always on the 
lookout for souls to destroy, frequently making his 
approaches, as in the case of the Saviour, in the guise 
of a friend, and even benefactor. Nor does he 
hesitate to use Scripture to accomplish his nefarious 
ends, but always by perversion. When he had the 
Lord on the roof of the temple, and suggested that 
He cast Himself down, he attempted to bolster his 
proposition up and make it reasonable by an appeal 
to the word of God, and quoted a certain passage as 
foUows: *'He shall give his angels charge concerning 
thee: and on their hands shall they bear thee up, lest 
haply thou dash thy foot against a stone." If you 
will read the ninety-first Psalm, you will find that the 
devil left out a very important modifying clause in 
that passage. It reads thus: ''For he shall give his 
angels charge over thee, to keep tJiee in all tliy 
ways.** The clause in italics the devil left out, for 
the purpose, no doubt, of impressing his intended 
victim with the idea that God had unconditionally 
promised to take care of His people. But the passage 
says: "To keep thee in all thy ways." The ways of 
a child of God are his by adoption. God marks out 
the way, and says, ''This is the way; walk ye in it," 
and as long as one walks in the way that God has 
designated, he has the promise of angelic protection. 



no SBKMONS AND ADDRESSES 

When the dear Lord was agonizing in the garden, 
and ''his sweat became as it were great drops of 
blood falling down upon the ground," "there ap- 
peared unto him an angel from heaven, strengthening 
him." How He needed strength from on high in 
that dark hour of fearful anguish, and He was not 
forgotten. At some time in his life almost every 
child of God has to pass through his Gethsemane, and 
drink from the cup of bitterest anguish, and it is in 
such experiences that he especially needs that strength 
which comes from above; and, blessed be God, he 
has the promise of angelic help, and but for such 
help he would sink beneath the submerging waves. 
''Take it to the Lord in prayer." When Peter mis- 
takenly supposed that he could serve his Master with 
his sword, and "smote the servant of the high priest, 
and struck off his ear, ' ' the Lord sadd to him : ' ' Put up 
again thy sword into its place: for all they that take 
the svford shall perish with the sword. Or thinkest 
thou that I cannot beseech my Father, and he shall 
even now send me more than twelve legions of 
angels?" How abundant in resources is our heavenly 
Father for the protection of those who love and serve 
Him! And with what implicit confidence can they 
entrust themselves to His care and keeping! The 
Saviour was crucified and buried, and when the time 
came for His resurrection, "an angel of the Lord 
descended from heaven, and came and rolled away 
the stone, and sat upon it. His appearance was as 
lightning, and his raiment as white as snow: and for 
fear of him the watchers did quake, and became as 
dead men." No angel ever came to earth upon a 
more delightful mission than that, and no doubt the 
heavenly hosts made the welkin of heaven ring with 



THE MINISTRY OF ANGELS 111 

shouts of joy when that stone was rolled away, and 
the Lord came out as a glorious conqueror. 

When Mary Magdalene and the other Mary visited 
the sepulchre soon after the resurrection, it was an 
angel that said to them: ''Fear not ye: for I know 
that ye seek Jesus, who hath been crucified. He is 
not here; for he is risen, even as he said. Come, see 
the place where the Lord lay." How that message 
touched and thrilled the hearts of those pious and 
devoted women! How blessed is the ministry of 
angels! When the Lord of glory was taken up into 
heaven from the disciples, and they stood ''looking 
stedfastly into heaven as he went, behold, two men 
[angels] stood by them in white apparel; who also 
said, Ye men of Oalilee, why stand ye looking into 
heaven? this Jesus, who was received up from you into 
heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye beheld him 
going into heaven." And when He entered into 
heaven, and took His seat at the right hand of the 
throne of God, Jehovah said: "Let all the angels of 
God worship him." Angels announced His birth, 
watched over Him during His earthly pilgrimage, com- 
forted and strengthened Him when His soul was 
crushed under a tremendous weight of sorrow, re- 
ceived Him up into the courts of glory with shouts of 
joy, and cast their glittering crowns at His feet, 
exclaiming: "Worthy is the Lamb that hath been 
slain to receive the power, and riches, and wisdom, 
and might, and honor, and glory, and blessing." In 
the early days of the kingdom of Christ angels were 
active in the guidance and protection of evangelists, 
and in so directing pious inquirers as to have brought 
to them the gospel of Jesus Christ which is "the 
power of God unto salvation." When the apostles 



112 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

were arrested and cast into prison in Jerusalem, it 
was an angel of the Lord that opened the prison 
doors, brought them out, and said: *'Go ye, and 
stand and speak in the temple to the people all the 
words of this life." When Herod threw Peter into 
prison after killing James, an angel of the Lord 
stood by him, and brought him out that he might go 
to a place of safety. When Paul was on his voyage 
to Rome upon his appeal to Caesar, and the ship in 
which he was sailing was caught in a fearful storm 
and all on board were in imminent danger, an angel 
of the Lord stood by the apostle, and said: *'Fear 
not, Paul; thou must stand before Caesar: and lo, God 
hath granted thee all them that sail with thee." 
When Cornelius was praying in his house in Caesarea, 
praying, no doubt, for a fuller knowledge of the will 
of God, an angel appeared to him and directed him 
to send for Peter, who would speak to him words 
whereby he and all his house might be saved. 

Thus we see how active angels have been in the 
affairs of men, and in promoting the gospel of God^s 
grace among the children of earth, and this recital 
of facts is well calculated to assure the people of God 
that they are in the hands of guardians who can and 
will care for them when they are living in the fear 
and service of the heavenly Father. I close this dis- 
course with a repetition of the text: '*Are they not all 
ministering spirits, sent forth to do service for the sake 
of them that shall inherit salvation?" 



CONVERSION 

A SERMON 

Text. — **For this people's heart is waxed gross, 
And their ears are dull of hearing, 
And their eyes they have closed; 
Lest haply they should perceive with their eyes, 
And hear with their ears, 
And understand with their heart, 
And should turn again, 
And I should heal them.'' —Matt. 13:15. 

THIS is the rendering of this passage as given in 
the Eevised Version of the Scriptures, and it is 
eminently worthy of note that **turn again" here 
takes the place of ''be converted" in the Common 
Version, the verb being in the active voice in the 
Kevision, while it is passive in the King's Transla- 
tion. And not only is this the case here, but it is 
also the case in every other instance of the occurrence 
of the verb in the New Testament. No passive form 
of the verb, such as "be converted," occurs in the 
Eevised Version, and it is interesting to inquire why 
the king's translators used the passive form, while 
the revisers employed the active voice altogether. 
The reason why the passive form was used by the 
former lies in the theological dogmata of total heredi- 
tary depravity and immediate or miraculous operation 
of the Holy Spirit in conversion. It was held by 
Augustine in the fourth century of our era that every 
human being is born in a state of spiritual death that 

incapacitates him to do anything towards his conver- 

iis 



114 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

sion till the Holy Spirit makes him alive by a direct 
and immediate operation upon him, and that in the 
transaction man is wholly passive. This Augnstinian 
doctrine spread far and wide, and prevailed through- 
out Christendom at the time of the making of the 
Common Version. 

The king's translators were dominated by this 
doctrine, and when they came to translate the Greek 
verb in question (epistreplioo) , they found themselves 
in a conflict between their theology and their scholar- 
ship. They knew full well that the verb was in the 
active voice, but their theology said that a sinner is 
passive in conversion — that he is converted by an 
operation performed upon or within him by the Spirit 
of God — and to translate the verb in the active voice 
would spoil their theology on the subject of conver- 
sion. In this conflict their theology triumphed over 
their scholarship, and they translated an active verb 
in the passive form to agree with their doctrine con- 
cerning conversion. These men — great scholars for 
their day — are not to be censured too severely for this 
eccentricity, for theology held the minds of men with 
a very firm grip in those days, and it was a matter 
of moral impossibility for them not to be influenced 
by it in dealing with the Scriptures. But by the 
time the revisers came to their task scholarship had 
gained a firmer hold upon the minds of men, and 
while they held the doctrine of a direct operation 
of the Holy Spirit in conversion in a somewhat 
modified form, their scholarship prevailed, and they 
translated the active verb in the active form, showing 
that a sinner is active in his conversion, and left 
theology to take care of itself. This will finally 
deliver the religious world from the theological night- 



CONVERSION 115 

mare that has dominated it lor fifteen hundred years 
or more, paralyzing men's spiritual energies with the 
notion that they were powerless to do anything in 
the direction of their salvation till they became the 
recipients of this alleged immediate operation of God's 
Spirit. The mischief that this dogma has done in 
the world is incalculable. It has kept men waiting 
and trembling in the face of eternity, and postponing 
their acceptance of Jesus Christ to the salvation of 
their souls, in expectation of this miraculous operation 
that never came. But, thank God, this superstition 
is losing its hold upon the minds of men, and it is 
not too much to hope that in the near future its spell 
will be completely broken. 

The difference between active and passive verbs 
as to their force and application is well understood 
by pupils in the grammar school. They know that 
in an active verb the subject performs the act or acts 
indicated by the verb, while in a passive verb the 
subject is acted upon or receives the action or actions 
indicated by the verb. *' James struck" indicates that 
James performed the act of striking something or 
somebody else, while ''James was struck" means that 
James was the object struck by something or some- 
body else. James can tell you the difference between 
the two forms of the verb, if nobody else can. In the 
first instance James was active, performing the opera- 
tion indicated by the verb, while in the second 
instance James received the operation indicated by 
the verb. According to this principle in the construc- 
tion and use of language, as the verb which indicates 
the act or acts of conversion is in the active form, 
the subject of it is contemplated as performing the 
act or acts involved in conversion. We have in the 



116 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

text a cluster of four verbs, all in the active form, 
thus indicating that in the things referred to thereby 
the subject is active, and not passive. "Lest they 
should see with their eyes" shows that man must 
see for himself, and that another can not see for 
him. God has given him eyes with which to see, and 
has placed before him the beauties of nature to see, 
and there God's agency in the matter ceases, and 
man must do the rest. If he chooses to do so, he can 
close his eyes and thus darken the windows of his 
soul and shut out the beauties of his environment and 
live in darkness. He must drink in these beauties by 
using the sense of sight that God has given; he must 
do the seeing himself and for himself. 

*'And hear with his ears'* shows that in the 
matter of hearing man is active and hears for him- 
self. As God has given him eyes with which to see 
and placed before him objects to behold, so He has 
given him ears with which to hear, and made nature 
vocal with sounds for him to hear. But as he may 
close his eyes and shut beauty out of his soul, so he 
may fill his ears with wax and exclude from his being 
the harmony and melody of music, and even fail to 
hear the roar of thunder. He must use the faculty 
of hearing and hear for himself, and another can not 
hear for him. If he closes the avenue by which 
sound is perceived, he fails to hear, and must forego 
the pleasure that comes through hearing. No one 
else can hear for him. "And understand with their 
heart." God has given man a heart with which to 
understand and has said something for him to under- 
stand, and there the matter rests with man. He may 
fail to use his faculty of understanding, and derive 
no advantage from the messages that God has sent 



CONVERSION 117 

into the world. Thus we discover that man so far 
is active all along the line, and does the seeing, 
hearing and understanding himself, as indicated by 
the active form of the verbs, which is sanctioned by 
reason and confirmed by experience and observation. 
'*And turn again.'' Here we reach the crucial 
point in our investigation, and are brought face to 
face with the subject of conversion, and it behooves 
us to look at it carefully and without prejudice, for 
it is a matter in which we can not afford to make a 
mistake. As in the three other instances, so here, too, 
the verb that indicates the act or acts of conversion 
is in the active form, thus showing that man himself 
must perform that act or those acts. ''Turn again" 
is active, and Conveys the idea that man does the 
turning, and that he is not turned by another. In 
other words, he turns or converts himself, and the 
responsibility of the transaction is upon his own 
shoulders; and if he does not turn or convert himself 
that he may be saved, the blame lies at his own door, 
and he can find fault with no one else. He must not 
wait for another to do for him what he must do him- 
self, and when we consider that his eternal destiny 
is involved in the matter its importance looms large 
in the estimation of common intelligence. It is the 
most vital and far-reaching question that can possibly 
claim the attention of rational men and women, and 
it should not be sidetracked for anything else. Ques- 
tions of political economy, education, social conditions, 
international relations, etc., are weighty and interest- 
ing, and are entitled to a share of the attention of 
the children of men; but they all pale into insignif- 
icance in comparison with the matter of eternal 
salvation which is involved in the question of conver- 



118 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

sion, and this is the subject to which men should give 
first and chief attention. 

As employed in the New Testament, the term 
''conversion" in its broad sense is a synonym for the 
whole gospel plan of salvation, as is manifest from 
the following statement: ''They [Paul, Barnabas and 
others] therefore, being brought on their way by the 
church, passed through both Phcenicia and Samaria, 
declaring the conversion of the Gentiles" (Acts 15:3). 
Other passages might be quoted to the same effect, 
but one clear declaration in the word of God is suffi- 
cient to establish any proposition. Conversion and 
becoming a Christian are one and the same thing, 
and this emphasizes the importance of the question 
that we are discussing, and suggests that we should 
consider it with the utmost care and candor. Con- 
version is something that stands between sinful men 
and salvation, as is quite evident from the following 
declaration from the Master: "Verily I say unto you, 
Except ye turn [convert yourselves], and become as 
little children, ye shall in no wise enter into the 
kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 18:3). Weightier lan- 
guage than this is not to be found in the whole realm 
of literature, and it should be inscribed upon the 
tablet of the human mind as with the point of a 
diamond, so that it might never be forgotten. When 
God calls the attention of men to a given subject, 
that call should be heeded with alacrity, and it should 
not be neglected on any account. 

Here it is opportune to analyze the question in 
hand, and look at it in its several parts and phases, 
and bring out the various specific things that man 
must do in his conversion; and the very first thing 
that claims our attention is the duty to believe in 



CONVERSION 119 

the Lord Jesus Christ as the only begotten Son of 
God. This is a divine command, and every such com- 
mand carries with it the idea of an act or acts of 
obedience on the part of the one commanded. The 
act or acts may be either mental or physical, or both, 
but whether the one or the other, or both, they are 
the personal acts of the one commanded; and hence 
the duty to believe is man's duty, and he must per- 
form it. But that Jesus Christ is the Son of God is 
a proposition that man can not believe except upon 
sufficient and adequate testimony. The proposition 
is a divine and superhuman one, and hence testimony 
of the same nature is the only kind of proof that can 
establish it in a rational mind. We are told in the 
sacred volume that ''belief cometh of hearing, and 
hearing by the word of Christ," and this shows us 
the vital relation between the Scriptures and intel- 
ligent faith or belief in Jesus as the Messiah of God. 
God has borne testimony to the divine Sonship of the 
Nazarene, and if we receive the testimony of men, the 
testimony of God is greater, and we can receive it 
with the utmost confidence, and build upon it the 
most unswerving faith. 

God has borne His testimony to this wonderful 
pioposition ''both by signs and wonders, and by man- 
ifold powers, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit, accord- 
ing to his own will." This shows the important 
relation of the miracles of the New Testament to 
the gospel of God's grace. They constitute the foun- 
dation upon which faith in Jesus Christ as the Son 
of God rests, and without which there could be no 
such faith. On this point the Scriptures bear the 
following testimony: "Many other signs therefore did 
Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not 



120 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

written in this book: but these are written, that ye 
may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; 
and that believing ye may have life in his name" 
(John 20:30, 31). It is self-evident that this item 
of conversion must be accomplished by man himself. 
Neither God nor man can believe for another, but 
every one must believe for himself, and this makes 
it necessary for every man to read or hear the word 
of God that he may believe and thus accomplish this 
part of his conversion. In harmony with this prin- 
ciple we read that when the Samaritans "believed 
Philip preaching good tidings concerning the kingdom 
of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were 
baptized, both men and women" (Acts 8:12). Philip 
preached the gospel to those people, and they heard 
and believed in accordance with the fact that belief 
comes of hearing the word of Christ. And we also 
learn that when Paul preached the gospel in Corinth, 
"many of the Corinthians hearing believed, and were 
baptized." In Iconium, Paul and Barnabas "so spake 
that a great multitude both of Jews and Greeks 
believed." Other passages might be cited to the same 
effect, but those already quoted make it perfectly 
clear that in conversion men believe in Jesus Christ 
upon the testimony which God has given of His Son 
in the Holy Scriptures. 

Next comes repentance, which also involves human 
action, as the etymology of the Greek word for 
repentance indicates. That word is metanoia, from 
meta (with) and notes (the mind), thus showing that 
repentance is action that a man performs with his 
mind; and the first definition that Thayer's "Greek- 
English Lexicon of the New Testament" gives of the 
word is ''a change of mind." This is likewise implied 



CONVERSION 121 

in the fact that repentance is a command of God, and 
every such command indicates action on the part of 
him who is commanded. The following Scripture is 
pertinent here: ''The times of ignorance therefore 
God overlooked; but now he commandeth men that 
they should all everywhere repent" (Acts 17:30). 
Every divine command implies ability on the part of 
those commanded to comply with the command, what- 
ever it may be. It would neither be gracious nor just 
for God to give man a command that he is unable to 
obey, for John says: ''For this is the love of God, 
that we keep his commandments: and his command- 
ments are not grievous." A command which man 
has no ability to obey would certainly be very 
grievous. Thus it appears that repentance is some- 
thing that a sinner does himself; he changes his own 
mind with respect to his conduct towards God, and 
determines to "cease to do evil, and learn to do 
good." Repentance is a fruit of godly sorrow, or 
sorrow that results from one^s conviction that he has 
sinned against God, as Paul declares in the following 
terms: "For godly sorrow worketh repentance unto 
salvation, a repentance which bringeth no regret" 
(2 Cor. 7:10). This sorrow is in marked contrast 
with that selfish sorrow which a wrong-doer experi- 
ences when a due penalty is visited upon him for the 
wrong that he has done. A thief is caught in the 
act of stealing, or with stolen goods upon him, and 
is consigned to the penitentiary for a term of years 
on account of his crime. While in prison he experi- 
ences sorrow, not because he has sinned against the 
State and wronged his fellow-man, but because he is 
suffering punishment for his sin, and at the end of 
his term of imprisonment he will probably resume his 



122 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

nefarious business. His sorrow is simply selfish, and 
does not bring forth, genuine repentance. But if lie 
is sorry because he has done wrong — that he has 
sinned against law and society — he will resolve to 
amend his life and bring forth the fruits of repent- 
ance in reformation, and might safely be pardoned 
and set at liberty, and received back into the confi- 
dence of the community. 

If there is anything that should overwhelm the 
soul of man with deep and lasting sorrow, it is cer- 
tainly the conviction that one has sinned against the 
kind, loving, gracious and merciful Father in whom 
''we live, and move, and have our being." And 
unless the conscience is seared as with a hot iron, 
serious meditation upon the fact that one has sinned 
against God will produce that "godly sorrow" which 
will prompt one to determine to quit sinning, and 
live soberly, righteously and godly the rest of his 
life. And why should not the knowledge of the fact 
that one has transgressed the law of God and offended 
Him who is "too wise to err, and too good to be 
unkind," fill the heart of a sinner with the pro- 
foundest and purest sorrow? And why should not 
such sorrow turn the soul in disgust away from sin, 
thus producing repentance that brings no regret, and 
reconciling the soul to God? Such a heart will cry 
out in deepest repentance, "I have sinned against 
high heaven, and in the sight of the God of holiness, 
and with His help I mil turn over a new leaf and 
live a new life." Nothing in human life is more 
hateful than sin when looked at from the standpoint 
of godly sorrow, and when so seen it fills the soul 
with loathing disgust, and it says, "I will no longer 
live therein," and repentance naturally follows. 



CONVERSION 123 

Then comes the confession that Jesus Christ is the 
Son of God, and this confession is made openly in 
the presence of men. The teaching of Scripture is 
very plain and explicit on this point. Consider the 
following words from the Master Himself: ''Every 
one therefore who shall confess me before men, him 
will I also confess before my Father who is in heaven" 
(Matt. 10:32). This is one of the most precious 
promises among all ''the exceeding great and precious 
promises" of the gospel of God's grace. The thought 
of being owned and confessed by Jesus Christ before 
the judgment-bar of God makes the soul of man 
quiver with the most delightful anticipation, and pre- 
sents a most powerful lure to stimulate one to the 
greatest possible effort to secure the "abundant 
entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and 
Saviour Jesus Christ." The Lord further says: 
"Every one who shall confess me before men, him 
shall the Son of man also confess before the angels 
of God." It wiU be a day of ineffable glory when 
the redeemed shaU stand in the presence of God and 
His angels, to hear the Master say: "Father, these are 
they who confessed me before men, and I now confess 
them in this august presence, and own them as my 
disciples." A more pleasing prospect than that could 
not greet the eye of faith nor cheer the heart of hope. 
But there is another side to this question, which we 
should not fail to consider. Listen! "But he that 
denieth me in the presence of men, shall be denied 
in the presence of the angels of God." And failure 
to confess is taken for denial, for the Lord says: 
"Whosoever is not for me is against me." This 
question receives great emphasis from Paul's language 
in Eom. 10:9, 10, as follows: "Because if thou shalt 



124 SEEMONS AND ADDRESSES 

confess with tliy month Jesna as Lord, and shalt 
believe in thy heart that God raised him from the 
dead, thou shalt be saved: for with the heart man 
believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth 
confession is made unto salvation/' 

The culminating item of conversion is baptism, and 
the word of God is very full and complete in its 
teaching on this question. *'Go ye therefore, and 
make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into 
the name of the Father and of the Son and of the 
Holy Spirit;*' *'Go ye into all the world, and preach 
the gospel to the whole creation. He that believeth 
and is baptized shall be saved; but he that disbe- 
lieveth shall be condemned;" ''Repent ye, and be 
baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ 
unto the remission of your sins; and ye shall receive 
the gift of the Holy Spirit;" ''And now why tarriest 
thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, 
calling on his name;" "Or are ye ignorant that all 
we who were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized 
into his death?" "When the longsuffering of God 
waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a 
preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls, were 
saved through water: which also after a true likeness 
doth now save you, even baptism, not the putting 
away of the filth of the flesh, but the interrogation of 
a good conscience toward God through the resurrec- 
tion of Jesus Christ" — are some of the pointed declara- 
tions of the sacred writings on this subject, and they 
clearly show that in the ordinance of baptism a 
penitent believer who confesses Jesus Christ to be the 
Son of God turns to the Lord to the salvation of 
his soul. They also show that baptism is a personal 
duty which every one must perform for himself as an 



CONVERSION 125 

act of his own volition. No one can be baptised for 
another or have another baptized without his consent. 
Baptism is an interrogation or an inquiry of a good 
conscience toward or after God, and this is an inter- 
rogation or inquiry that every one must make himself 
personally and directly, and it can not be made by 
substitution. Thus we see that all along the line of 
conversion man is active, doing the things that conver- 
sion involves. 

What, then, has God to do in the matter? Much 
every way. Take the item of belief or faith. It 
belongs to God to furnish the foundation for faith in 
testimony that is adequate to the production of intel- 
ligent faith in the human mind, and He has abun- 
dantly done this both verbally and in the miracles 
that are recorded in the New Testament. When Jesus 
was baptized, God spoke from the vaulted sky and 
said, **This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well 
pleased," and this declaration was repeated on the 
mount of transfiguration. Thus we have the direct 
testimony of the greatest witness in the universe upon 
which to rest our faith in the Messiahship and deity 
of Christ Jesus. There can be no firmer basis for 
faith than the word of Him who can not lie, for, 
while ''all flesh is as grass, and all the glory thereof 
as the flower of grass, . . . the word of the Lord 
abideth for ever. And this is the word of good tidings 
which was preached unto you." We can repose with 
the utmost confidence upon the word of Him "who 
spake, and it was done; who commanded, and it stood 
fast," concerning which word Jehovah through Isaiah 
says: "For as the rain cometh down and the snow 
from heaven, and retumeth not thither, but watereth 
the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, and 



126 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

giveth seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so 
shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: 
it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accom- 
plish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the 
thing whereto I sent it." This is one of the imper- 
ishable stones in the foundation that God has laid 
for our faith, and upon it we can stand and rejoice 
in hope of the glory of the Lord. 

But in addition to this verbal testimony that 
Jehovah has given concerning His Son, we have the 
never-failing evidence found in the miraculous works 
that were performed by Jesus Christ and His apostles 
in attestation of His claim to be the only begotten 
Son of God. To the Jews the Master said: ''If I 
do not the works of my Father, believe me not. But 
if I do them, though ye believe not me, believe the 
works: that ye may know and understand that the 
Father is in me, and I in the Father." Here Jesus 
even puts His works above His word in their eviden- 
tial value as to His relation to God, and that presents 
the strongest possible foundation for our faith in Him. 
When the Lord informed His disciples that Lazarus 
was dead. He said: ''And I am glad for your sakes 
that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe" 
(John 11:15). In this saying He had reference to 
the wonderful miracle that He would by and by work 
in raising Lazarus from the dead, and thus strengthen 
the faith of His followers in Himself as the Messiah 
of God; and this was the great and ultimate purpose 
of all His miracles, as is declared by John in a pas- 
sage quoted in another place in this discourse. But 
the keystone in the arch of this miraculous evidence 
is found in the resurrection of the Lord Himself from 
the dead, as is set forth by Paul in the following 



CONYERSION 127 

passage: ''Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to 
be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, which 
he promised before through his prophets in the holy- 
scriptures, concerning his Son, who was born of the 
seed of David according to the flesh, who was declared 
to be the Son of God with power, according to the 
spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead" 
(Rom. 1:14). ''Dead" here (nekroon) is plural, and 
it is no doubt intended to include all those whom 
Christ raised from the dead, but with supreme 
emphasis upon the resurrection of the Lord of glory, 
who thereby brought life and immortality to light. 
Had He failed to rise from the dead, all His claims 
would have fallen to the ground in a heap of ruins, 
and we would have been left without God and without 
hope in a world of darkness and despair. But as He 
triumphed over death and the grave, and arose a 
triumphant conqueror, we can plant our feet upon 
that supreme fact, and believe in Him with an 
undying faith. And God not only presents the evi- 
dence to enable us to believe, but He also offers an 
adequate motive to induce us to believe, and that 
motive is the promise of immortality and eternal life. 
*'He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life," 
says the Master, and surely a higher motive to action 
could not be presented to the mind of man. 

The wonderful exhibition of the goodness of God, 
as displayed in His providence and through the 
redemption that is in Christ Jesus, is the cord that 
draws men to God in repentance, as Paul declares in 
the following language: "Or despisest thou the riches 
of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering, not 
knowing that .the goodness of God leadeth thee to 
repentance?" (Rom. 2:4). By the sun whose light 



128 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

inswathes the earth in garments of glory; by the 
stars that twinkle in the heavens; by the pattering 
rain and the sparkling dew; by the succession of day 
and night and seedtime and harvest; by the rippling 
brook and the majestically flowing river; by the song 
of the bird and the beauty of the flower; by our 
daily food and raiment, and by a thousand other 
tokens of His providential goodness, does God appeal 
to men to quit sinning against Him, and live accord- 
ing to His will. But the supreme manifestation of 
God's goodness to the children of men is seen in the 
tragedy of the cross and the scenes of Calvary. Just 
before the Lord expired. He uttered this sky-smiting 
cry: "My God, my God, why" hast thou forsaken 
me?" This heart-rending question received no reply 
in words, but the answer may be read between the 
lines in the gospel of God's grace, and it runs some- 
thing like this: "My beloved Son, I must forsake you 
for a little while now, that I may not have to forsake 
the suffering children of men forever. Men are 
exposed to eternal death, and the only way for me to 
save them and be just, is to leave you to yourself in this 
hour of your supreme need." "0 for such love let 
rocks and hills their lasting silence break!" It is no 
wonder that the earth clothed itself in the robes of 
mourning, nor that rocks leaped from hillsides to 
emphasize the awfulness of the tragedy! How can 
men help being led to repentance by this wonderful 
display of God's goodness? "Lord, help me to turn 
away from that hateful thing which has made it 
necessary for Thee to make such a tremendous sac- 
rifice for my redemption" would seem to be the natural 
outcry of the soul of man in view of the heavenly 
Father 's lovino^kindness. 



CONVERSION 129 

It would be difficult, if not impossible, to conceive 
of a higher motive to influence men to act, than the 
one that God has placed before us to induce us to 
confess Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour. The 
hope of eternal salvation appeals to a rational mind 
with tremendous power, and is a mighty dynamo to 
prompt men to make the ''good confession/' ''If 
thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, 
and shalt believe in thy heart that God hath raised 
him from the dead, thou shalt be saved," is the way 
whereby God seeks to persuade men to confess His 
Son, and certainly the appeal carries with it won- 
derful power. 

Practically the same motive is placed before men 
to induce them to be baptized. "He that believeth 
and is baptized shall be saved," says the Prince of 
life and salvation. "Repent ye, and be baptized every 
one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the 
remission of your sins," says the Holy Spirit through 
an inspired apostle. "The antitype to which, even 
baptism, doth also save you," declares the unerring 
word of God. In these and other passages God brings 
to bear upon men and women a very high and holy 
motive to influence them to do His will. 

Thus we see that in every item of conversion there 
is co-operation between God and man. God presents 
the evidence to prove that Jesus Christ is His Son, 
but man does the believing. God offers the motive 
to induce man to repent, but man does the repenting. 
God persuades man to confess His Son, but man does 
the confessing. God appeals to man to be baptized, 
but man chooses to be baptized. From one point of 
view God converts men, and from another point of 
view men convert themselves, and from still another 



130 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

point of view men convert one another. **My breth- 
ren, if any among you err from the truth, and one 
convert him; let him know, that he who converteth a 
sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul 
from death, and shall cover a multitude of sins" 
(Jas. 5:19, 20). ''But arise, and stand upon thy 
feet: for to this end have I appeared unto thee, to 
appoint thee a minister and a witness both of the 
things wherein thou hast seen me, and of the things 
wherein I will appear unto thee; delivering thee from 
the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom I send 
thee, to open their eyes, that they may turn from 
darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto 
God" (Acts 26:16-18). A marginal rendering is **to 
turn them," and this is manifestly the correct render- 
ing, and it is so rendered in the Common Version, 
and by Dean Alford in his "New Testament for English 
Readers." Paul was to turn or convert those to 
whom he was sent, from darkness to light, just as he 
was to open their eyes. God converts people, people 
convert themselves, and people convert one another. 
God presents evidence and motives, men preach these 
to their fellows, and, influenced thereby, hearers con- 
vert themselves, or turn to the Lord, who saves them. 
The following declarations of Scripture are in line 
with the foregoing argumentation: "And many of the 
children of Israel shall he [John the Baptist] turn 
unto the Lord their God" (Luke 1:16). "And all 
they that dwelt at Lydda and Sharon saw him, and 
they turned to the Lord" (Acts 9:35). "And the 
hand of the Lord was with them: and a great number 
that believed turned to the Lord" (Acts 11:28). 
"We also are men of like passions with you, and 
bring you good tidings, that ye should turn from 



CONVERSION 131 

these vain things unto a living God'* (Acts 14:15). 
"Wherefore my judgment is, that we trouble not them 
that from among the Gentiles turn to God" (Acts 
15:19). In all these passages the word ''turn" 
translates the Greek term epistrepho, which indicates 
the act or acts of conversion. With their eyes men 
see what God has placed before them, with their ears 
they hear what God has said, with their hearts they 
understand what God has revealed, and then convert 
themselves or turn to the Lord, who does for them 
what they can not do for themselves — He heals or 
pardons them. No man can save himself from his 
sins, but every one must turn to the Lord in His 
appointed way, and look to Him alone for the boon 
of salvation. The Lord Jesus Christ, and He alone, 
has authority to forgive sin and save sinners from 
its condemnation. Humbly and penitently the believer 
must confess Jesus Christ as the Son of God, and 
obey Him in the ordinance of baptism, and thus come 
to Him who can ''save to the uttermost all that come 
to God by him." Sinner, listen to the gospel call, 
accept the overture of mercy extended through Him 
who loved you and gave Himself for you, and so 
accept and enjoy the redemption that is in Christ 
Jesus. 



THE INTERMEDIATE STATE 
OF THE DEAD 

A SERMON 

Test. — *'We are of good courage, I say, and are willing 
rather to be absent from the body, and to be at home with 
the Lord.''— 2 Cor. 5: 8. 

BY the intermediate state of the dead I mean the 
state or condition of the dead between death 
and the final judgment, and the subject brings us 
face to face with the immediate future — ^that future 
which lies just in front of us, and into which people 
enter when they die. I expect that most people, 
when they think of the future, place it away beyond 
the judgment, and whatever intervenes between now 
and then seems hazy, nebulous and uncertain. In 
this sermon we will make an effort to look into that 
future toward which we are rapidly hastening, and 
into which we must soon enter. No more interesting 
or thrilling subject for thought and reflection than 
this ever engaged the attention of the human mind, 
and whatever time we devote to its investigation 
will be well and profitably spent. A distinguished 
preacher was once spending some time visiting a 
friend and brother in central Kentucky. One eve- 
ning the two were engaged in general conversation, 
when the host began to talk about the State of Iowa, 
which was then regarded as situated in the wilds of the 
distant Northwest. The man talked with remarkable 

132 



INTERMEDIATE STATE OF DEAD 133 

intelligence about that region of country- He had 
read up on its soil, its products, its climate, and 
everything pertaining to its material resources. The 
guest wondered why it was that his host was so 
interested in and enthusiastic about Iowa, and he 
aimed to so direct the conversation that he would 
discover the secret. Presently it came out that the 
man's children had all married and gone to Iowa and 
made it their home. No longer was it a puzzle to the 
preacher as to why his friend was so deeply interested 
in Iowa, for it was the home of his children. And 
pretty soon it developed that the man himself had 
sold his bluegrass farm, and made investments in 
Iowa, and expected soon to make it his home. All 
was then as clear as light as to why the man had 
taken such pains to inform himself about Iowa — it 
was the home of his children, and would soon be his 
own home. 

This is a fine illustration of our case with respect 
to the future. Already it is the home of many loved 
ones, and the time is not far distant when it will be 
your home and mine, and investigation with respect 
to it should be intensely interesting to every one of 
us. In pursuing the line of thought our subject 
suggests, we will necessarily skirt along the border- 
land between two worlds, and if now and then we 
can reach over and pluck a flower from the garden 
of the Lord to cheer us along the way, I am sure 
that we will feel amply repaid for our mental labor. 
I may say here that my investigation of this topic, 
which has been long, patient, and somewhat thorough, 
has not led me to the conclusion commonly enter- 
tained by Biblical expositors, and my apology for 
dissenting from the popular view is that I have not 



134 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

so learned the Scriptures. The view generally held 
upon this subject is that somewhere between earth 
and heaven there is an intermediate place known by 
the general name of Hades, which simply means what 
is unseen. It is held that Hades is divided into two 
compartments, one of which is called Paradise, and 
the other, Tartarus. According to this view, Paradise 
is a place of reception for the spirits of the righteous, 
into which they enter when they leave the body, and 
where they remain till the end of time, when they 
are judged and consigned to the place of their eternal 
abode. In Paradise these spirits are conscious and 
happy, but are not in heaven proper — are not in the 
presence of God. Tartarus is a place of reception for 
the wicked dead, into which they enter at the death 
of the body, and where they remain till the judgment 
in a state of consciousness and misery. 

Both as a matter of choice and necessity this 
sermon directs attention exclusively to the interme- 
diate state or condition of the righteous dead; and 
this turns to the mind's eye the beautiful side of the 
picture. It is not pleasant to either think or talk 
of the future condition of the wicked, and perhaps 
that is one reason why the modern pulpit does not 
deal largely with that phase of the subject. It is a 
matter, however, upon which God has spoken, and the 
minister of God should, upon proper occasions, faith- 
fully declare God's word on future punishment as 
well as future salvation and happiness. But a 
preacher can not very well handle both sides of the 
question in one discourse, and in a special sermon 
one may choose between the two sides of the general 
subject without disloyalty to Jehovah, and I have 
chosen to treat of the immediate future of the right- 



INTERMEDIATE STATE OF DEAD 135 

ecus dead in this discourse. I have said that I do not 
accept the popular interpretation of this theme. On 
the contrary, I hold that those who die in the service 
of God, under the gospel, go directly to God and 
enter at once upon the enjoyment of His presence and 
fellowship, and for them there is no intermediate 
place. As I understand the Scriptures, the inter- 
mediate-place arrangement did exist under the old 
covenant, and that as a matter of moral necessity in 
the administration of the divine government. And 
here this question emerges: What is it that separated 
man from God? As we trace the course of human 
history back toward its fountainhead, we find that 
the channel becomes narrower and narrower, till it 
is made manifest that the human race took its rise 
in a single pair — a man and a woman fresh from the 
hand of the divine Creator, and as pure and clean 
as the driven snow. The Garden of Eden, with its 
newly created occupants, furnishes a theme worthy of 
the genius and skill of the most gifted poet. Trees, 
fruit and flowers flourish in richest profusion, while 
the songs of birds fill the air with entrancing music, 
and, to crown it all, God comes down and graces the 
environment with His glorious presence. He speaks 
in words and tones of love to the being that bears 
His own image, and man looks into His fatherly face 
and bids Him welcome to the Edenic home. Here 
are scenes and circumstances of bliss and glory that 
are indescribable and unsurpassable. 

But we turn away from these enchanting visions 
for a little while, and then look back, and what a 
change! The garden, the trees, the fruit, the birds, 
are still there, but man is gone, and no longer are 
the footfalls of Jehovah heard amid the bowers of 



136 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

that delightful place. Man is a wanuerer, and God 
has withdrawn His personal presence from the land. 
What has brought about this wonderful and fearful 
change? What is it that has separated man from 
God and driven both from this beautiful abode? That 
hateful something that we call sin has done it — that 
dreadful thing that ''brought death into the world, 
and all our woes ' ' ; that detestable enemy of both 
God and man, that men roll under their tongues as 
a sweet morsel, and swallow the essence of a deadly 
poison, and hug to their bosoms as a boon companion, 
only to later on feel the sting of the hissing viper. 
Sin, through the disobedience of man, came into the 
world and built up a wall of separation between God 
and man, over which man could not pass to meet God, 
and over which God would not pass to meet man. 
How hateful a thing is sin, and how disastrous in its 
effects! But, while man has been driven from the 
home that the Father had given him, and while God 
has withdrawn His personal presence from him, still 
he is the object of divine love, and at a distance God 
follows him with an outstretched hand laden with in- 
numerable blessings, and sends him messages that inspire 
the hope that all is not finally lost. And in this it 
is probable that angels saw something that seemed to 
be a discrimination in the administration of the affairs 
of the divine government. At some time in the dim 
and distant past some of the angels sinned, and were 
immediately expelled from heaven, and consigned to 
outer darkness to await the condemnation of the day 
of final accounts, unfoUowed by a single ray of hope, 
and uncheered by a solitary promise of deliverance. 
Yet man, who likewise sinned and fell from his first 
estate, is the recipient of the divine favor in blessings 



I 



INTERMEDIATE STATE OF DEAD 137 

without number, and promises that are most precious 
because of the blessed hope that they inspire. 

This presented a problem that angels could not 
then solve, but they could see that God, by withdraw- 
ing His personal presence from man, by which He 
put the seal of His disapproval and condemnation 
upon sin, was not compromising with sin, nor doing 
violence to the principles of eternal truth and right- 
eousness. They could reasonably infer that something 
was concealed from them then, but would be revealed 
at the proper time, that would make everything plain, 
and fully vindicate God in His treatment of sinful 
man. God was looking down through the vista of 
time and saw Calvary and the cross, and beheld the 
stream of sin — atoning blood that was by and by to 
flow from the side of His Son, that would enable Him 
to be just and at the same time deal mercifully with 
His erring children of earth. This angels could not 
do, but they could wait and watch for coming events 
that would clear up the mystery. I have said that 
God's withdrawal of His personal presence from man 
manifested His disapproval of sin, and I wish now to 
state that that manifestation, to serve its purpose, 
must be kept up as long as sin, the cause of the 
separation, remains uncanceled. And this leads me 
to make the following statement: Not till the blood of 
Christ was shed upon the cross was any sin of man 
ever actually or absolutely forgiven. The Scriptures 
declare (Heb. 10:4) that ''it is impossible that the 
blood of bulls and goats should take away sins," and 
yet that is the only kind of blood that was ever shed 
by divine authority with respect to sin, till the blood 
of the Lamb of God was poured out upon Calvary. 
It is true enough that the forgiveness of sins is 



138 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

spoken of as having taken place under the old cove- 
nant when animal sacrifices were offered as an atone- 
ment for sin, but only in a relative or provisional 
sense. The shedding of the blood of animals for the 
remission of sin was a temporary arrangement, in view 
of which, because it typified the shedding of the blood 
of Christ, He could stay the penalty due sin, and 
grant the sinner respite from time to time, till the 
great day of atonement when the blood of His Son 
should take away the sins of His people. 

The word of God tells us (Heb. 10:3) that ''in 
those sacrifices there is a remembrance made of sins 
year by year." When on the day of atonement the 
worshiper made his sin-offering, his sins were not 
canceled, but were rolled forward a year, to be recalled 
the next . year on the day of atonement. Under this 
arrangement the punishment due sin was not inflicted, 
nor was sin obliterated. ''0 the depth of the riches 
both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!" When 
God absolutely forgives sin it is obliterated, and the 
sinner stands to God as if he had never sinned. This 
never took place under the old covenant, and when a 
servant of the Lord died his sins remained untaken 
away, and he could not go into the immediate pres- 
ence of God. This gave rise to the necessity for that 
intermediate and temporary place called Paradise, 
into which the departing spirit of the just went at 
the death of the body, where it continued to exist 
in a condition of consciousness and happiness, but, 
as it were, held at arm's-length from God because its 
sins still stood between it and God. One of the char- 
acteristics of the new covenant, that differentiate it 
from the old, is that under it provision is made for 
the actual or absolute forgiveness of sin. In giving 



INTERMEDIATE STATE OF DEAD 139 

a prophetical description of the new covenant, and 
contrasting it with the old, Jeremiah (chap. 31) says: 
''And they shall not teach every man his fellow- 
citizen, and every man his brother, saying, Know the 
Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the 
greatest of them. For I will be merciful to their 
iniquities, and their sins will I remember no more." 
This passage Paul quotes in the eighth chapter of 
Hebrews, and applies it to the covenant mediated by 
Jesus Christ, under which God blots sin out and 
remembers it no more forever. When Christ shed His 
blood on Calvary, a fountain was opened in the house 
of David for sin and uncleanness, into which the Lord 
dipped the hand of His mercy, and drew it across the 
page containing a record of the sins of His people, 
thus blotting them out or covering them from His 
sight, and purging them from His memory. 

Let us now examine some of the passages that 
seem to clearly support the foregoing contention: 
"Being justified freely by his grace through the 
redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God set 
forth to be a propitiation, through faith, in his blood, 
to show his righteousness because of the passing over 
of the sins done aforetime, in the forbearance of 
God; for the showing, I say, of his righteousness at 
this present season: that he might himself be just, 
and the justifier of him that hath faith in Jesus" 
(Rom. 3:24-26). Divine dispensations preceding the 
new covenant were simply dispensations of forbear- 
ance, and not dispensations of actual forgiveness — 
dispensations under which God passed over the sins 
of His people without either forgiving them or punish- 
ing the sinner; and in due time He set forth His 
Son crucified, to show that He was righteous in the 



140 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

exercise of this forbearance, and was making no com- 
promise with sin. This revealed to angels what had 
previously been a mystery to them, and enabled them 
to see the ground of God's dealings with His people 
in former times; and no doubt that it called forth a 
full chorus of praise from the ''choir invisible," in 
which God was glorified in the midst of the heavens, 
and acknowledged to have been just and righteous in 
all His dealings with men in ages past, as well as at 
that present season. Before passing from this passage 
to another, it might be well to call attention to the 
following rendering: *' Because of tJie passing over of 
the sins done aforetime, in the forbearance of God." 
The rendering given in the Common Version is this: 
**For the remission of sins that are past, through the 
forbearance of God." ''For the remission of sins" 
is an expression that occurs in Matt. 26:28 and Acts 
2:38, as rendered by the king's translators, and 
readers of that translation are liable to conclude that 
the phrase means the same thing in all three of the 
passages, for a stable principle of interpretation is 
that identical expressions must have identical meanings. 
But the expressions are by no means identical in 
the original. In Matt. 26 : 28 the preposition rendered 
**for" is eiSf which means "unto" or "in order to," 
and the same is true of Acts 2 : 38, while in Rom. 
3:24 the preposition is dia, which means "because 
of." In Matt. 26:28 and Acts 2:38 the noun ren- 
dered "remission" is aphesin, which means "remis- 
sion, ' ' while in Rom. 3 : 24 the noun is paresin, which 
means "passing over" or "passing by." Christ's 
blood was shed unto (eis) the remission (apJiesin) of 
sins. That is, Christ's blood was shed in order to the 
remission of sins, and on the day of Pentecost people 



INTERMEDIATE STATE OF DEAD 141 

were told to repent and be baptized unto {eis) the 
remission {apJiesin) of their sins. That is, they were 
to repent and be baptized m order to the remission of 
their sins. "Unto [eis] remission'' in Acts 2:38 
must have the same meaning that "unto [eis] remis- 
sion" has in Matt. 26:28. If we may make identical 
expressions mean opposite things, to suit somebody's 
theology, then language is fickle and whimsical, and 
human speech is not a safe medium of communication 
between human minds. But in Rom. 3 : 24 it is said 
that God sent forth His Son as a propitiation, to show 
His righteousness "because of [dia] the passing over 
[paresin] of sins done aforetime," and the Revised 
Version makes the distinction very clear. 

Let us now consider the following passage: **And 
for this cause he [Christ] is the mediator of a new 
covenant, that a death having taken place for the 
redemption of the transgressions that were under the 
first covenant, they that have been called may receive 
the promise of the eternal inheritance" (Heb. 9:15). 
The death here referred to is manifestly the death 
of the Saviour, and it is said that that death took 
place "for the redemption of the transgressions that 
were under the first covenant," or "the sins that 
were done aforetime in the forbearance of God." 
Now, it is axiomatic that, if Christ died for the 
redemption of the transgressions that were under the 
first covenant, those transgressions were not redeemed 
till that death occurred, or the "sins done aforetime" 
were not actually remitted till the tragedy of the cross 
was enacted. That proposition seems to have the 
force of a demonstration. It is thrillingly interesting 
to note the bearing of this upon the servants of God 
who lived and sinned under the first covenant. It 



142 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

was done that "they might receive the promise of the 
eternal inheritance." From this it is as clear as a 
sunbeam that those who lived and died under the 
first covenant did not receive ''the promise of the 
eternal inheritance." And here it becomes necessary 
to distinguish between a promise in the abstract and 
a promise in the concrete. A father says to his boy: 
"Son, be good, obedient and industrious, and when 
Christmas comes I will give you a watch." That is 
a promise in the abstract; that is, something is con- 
ditionally promised, which is to be bestowed in the 
future. Time passes on, Christmas arrives, the condi- 
tions have been complied with, and the father turns 
over the watch, and the son receives the promise in 
the concrete; that is, the thing promised. So with 
regard to the ancients: they received a promise in 
the abstract — that is, a promise was made them to be 
fulfilled in the future — but they did not receive the 
promise in the concrete, or the thing promised — that 
is, "the eternal inheritance" — and could not receive 
that till their sins were taken out of the way. 

The following passage is in point here: "And these 
all, having had witness borne to them through their 
faith, received not the promise, God having provided 
some better thing concerning us, that apart from us 
they should not be made perfect" (Heb. 11:39, 40). 
"These all" alludes to those spoken of or referred 
to in general terms in the preceding part of the 
chapter; they died in faith, but they did not receive 
the concrete promise — ^namely, "the eternal inher- 
itance" — because they were not "made perfect." Let 
us now institute and examine this inquiry: In what 
respect or respects were those who lived and died 
under the old covenant not made perfect? From the 



INTERMEDIATE STATE OP DEAD 143 

foregoing Scriptures it is quite evident that they 
were imperfect in two important particulars: In the 
first place, they were not perfect in their redemption 
from sin, as has already been pointed out, and, in the 
second place, they were not perfect in their inher- 
itance, and hence they did not enjoy the ''better 
thing" that God has provided for us under the gospel 
of His grace. Passing down into the twelfth chapter 
of the letter to the Hebrews, we find the writer 
drawing a contrast between the two dispensations, 
that of Moses and that of Christ, and pointing out 
the superiority of the latter to the former, and in 
regard to the Christian dispensation, he says: ''But 
ye are come unto mount Zion, and unto the city of 
the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to 
innumerable hosts of angels, to the general assembly 
and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in 
heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits 
of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator 
of a new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that 
speaketh better than that of Abel" (verses 22-24). 
It is interesting and instructive to note that the 
apostle does not say, "Ye are come to just men made 
perfect," but "to the spirits of just men made per- 
fect." The reference is undoubtedly to the disem- 
bodied spirits of just men who had lived and died 
in the service of God; and if we ^vill remember that 
the Scriptures were not originally written in divisions 
of chapters and verses, we will see that this language 
is very closely connected with the closing words of the 
eleventh chapter. That the spirits spoken of in the 
twelfth chapter are the spirits of the just men men- 
tioned or alluded to in the eleventh chapter, is a fair 
and logical, if not a necessary, inference. 

10 



144 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

Those spirits were not made perfect while they 
remained in the flesh, but they are now spoken of as 
made perfect. What has occurred to bring about this 
perfection? Turn to the tenth chapter, and read the 
fourteenth verse: ''For by one offering he hath perfected 
for ever them that are sanctified." That this "one 
offering" by which perfection was brought in, was 
the offering of Christ Himself upon the cross, there 
can be no doubt. When His blood was shed on Cal- 
vary, as indicated in another part of this discourse, 
God was enabled to actually forgive and blot out the 
sins of His people in all past ages, and thus perfect 
their redemption from sin. Closely following the 
statement that the sanctified were perfected by one 
offering, the writer quotes the following declaration 
from Jeremiah's description of the new covenant: 
''And their sins and their iniquities will I remember 
no more." Sins that had been remembered from year 
to year are now stricken from the record, and cast 
into the pit of eternal oblivion. But while the spirits 
of the just are now perfect in their redemption from 
sin, they are not yet perfect in their inheritance, and 
in order that they may be perfected in this respect, 
and come into possession of the eternal inheritance 
that has been promised them, they must be brought 
out of Paradise, and taken into the glorious presence 
of God. The only being who is adequate to this task 
is the one who perfected these spirits in their redemp- 
tion from sin, and, in order that He might do it, it 
was necessary for Him to go into Paradise where 
they were, bring them out, and take them to heaven 
with Him. Just before -He expired on the cross, He 
said to a penitent man who was crucified by His side: 
"To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise." This 



INTERMEDIATE STATE OF DEAD 145 

shows that when Jesus died His spirit went into the 
intermediate place where the . spirits of the just men 
of all the past ages had been awaiting the event that 
would make them perfect, and take away the wall of 
partition that sin had erected between them and God. 
When Moses and Elijah appeared with Jesus on 
the mount of transfiguration, they ''spake of his 
decease which he was about to accomplish at Jeru- 
salem." They seem to have felt a personal interest 
in that decease, and no doubt expected to receive some 
immediate benefit therefrom. And when Jesus entered 
Paradise I doubt not that Moses, Elijah, Daniel, 
Isaiah, Jeremiah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all 
the spirits of the just, gathered about Him and hailed 
Him as their chief and deliverer. He remained there 
for three days and nights, and on the morning of the 
third day He came against the gates of that part of 
Hades known as Paradise with His omnific power, 
and they gave way before Him, and He came out over 
their ruins a triumphant conqueror. Nor did He 
come alone. He brought with Him the multitude of 
spirits whose redemption from sin He had perfected 
through His death, that they might go home with 
Him to glory, and enter upon the enjoyment of the 
eternal inheritance in the presence of God. Sin, the 
thing that separated man from God, has been taken 
away, and there is no reason why the separation 
should be continued. As long as the cause remained, 
the effect remained likewise, but when the cause dis- 
appeared the effect might go with it. It is said of 
Christ that "when he ascended on high, he led cap- 
tivity captive, and gave gifts unto men" (Eph. 4:8). 
No doubt this passage has perplexed many students of 
the Word, as it did me for a long time. ''What can 



146 SEKMONS AND ADDRESSES 

'leading captivity captive' mean ? ' ' was the question that 
caused me perplexity. But by and by I chanced to get 
hold of a Bible with marginal renderings, and I found 
that the marginal rendering of this passage was, ''He 
led captive a multitude of captives," and through 
this rendering light began to break in upon the pas- 
sage. But upon examining the original I found that 
the noun (aicJimalosian) is singular, and that it 
literally means ''captivity." This gave me a backset 
for a time, and the difficulty seemed to return to the pas- 
sage. But in my anxiety to sift the matter to the bot- 
tom, and find the meaning of this interesting declaration 
in the word of God, I had recourse to Thayer's 
"Greek-English Lexicon," which has helped me out 
of a number of difficulties, and discovered that that 
great work, the universally acknowledged standard 
lexicon for New Testament Greek, in defining this 
word, refers to this very passage, and says, "Abstract 
for concrete; i. e., aiclimalotoi." Aichmalotoi is the 
plural of aiclimalotos, which means "a captive." 

This seemed to fully illuminate the passage and 
make its meaning perfectly clear. The place of cap- 
tivity is put for the occupants of the place, and the 
idea is that Christ, when He ascended up on high, led 
captives captive. Perhaps I can make the meaning 
a little clearer through an illustration: Let it be sup- 
posed that a band of marauding Mexicans invade the 
southern border of the United States, capture a num- 
ber of women and children, and carry them off as 
captives into their own country. A competent mili- 
tary leader assembles an adequate army, goes in 
pursuit, overtakes the depredators, rescues the cap- 
tives, and returns with them to "the land of the free 
and the home of the brave." As he returns it may 



INTERMEDIATE STATE OF DEAD 147 

be said of him, putting the abstract for the concrete, 
**he leads captivity captive." He went into the land 
of their captivity, broke the power that held them 
captive, and returns with them as his captives. Para- 
dise was a place that captured God's people, and held 
them as captives till He should come, who would 
destroy the place of captivity and take its occupants — 
the captives — as His captives, home to the ''eternal 
inheritance." After coming out of Paradise with His 
captives, the Master spent forty days with His disci- 
ples, instructing them more fully in the things per- 
taining to His kingdom, and then ascended up on 
high in the presence of the apostles, who gazed after 
Him till a *' cloud received him out of their sight." 
I do not think that that was an atmospheric cloud, 
but a cloud of like nature with the ''cloud of wit- 
nesses" that surround us as we run the race that is 
set before us. It was made up of the captives that 
the Lord had released from Paradise, who had been 
hovering in midair awaiting to be rejoined by their 
deliverer for the final upward flight. As He ap- 
proached the company, it, in true military style, 
divided, and the ascending Lord passed into the 
opening and beyond the sight of the astonished apos- 
tles, who stood gazing up into heaven as if transfixed 
in their tracks, tiU two angels in white apparel 
attracted their attention and gave them assurance 
that "this Jesus, who was received up from you into 
heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye beheld him 
going into heaven." 

The ascension now begins in earnest, with Jesus 
at the head of the column of the ascending hosts. 
And here is something that baffles the skill of poets 
and orators. What majestic circles the rising millions 



148 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

describe in their upward flight! Suns and moons and 
stars are passed, and left glistening and glimmering 
in the dim and distant rear. The Milky Way is 
encountered and traversed. Onward and upward they 
go. Deeper and deeper they plunge into the ethereal 
blue, till by and by the head of the column halts 
in front of the gate of the eternal city, and that 
scene is enacted which is described in the twenty- 
fourth Psalm. An attendant from without issues this 
startling order: ''Lift up your heads, ye gates; and 
be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors: and the King 
of glory will come in." This wonderful demand is 
met with the following challenge: ''Who is the King 
of glory? '^ and the following response is made: "The 
Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle." 
He has fought with death and the grave, and has 
overcome both, and here is His risen body as a 
glorious trophy of that victory; and He has fought 
with Paradise itself, and triumphed over that, and 
here are the spirits which He perfected and liberated, 
as the trophies of that victory. Upon this basis the 
command is repeated from without, "Lift up your 
heads, ye gates; yea, lift them up, ye everlasting 
doors: and the King of glory will come in;" and, as 
if to make certainty doubly sure, the challenge is 
repeated from within, "Who is this King of glory?" 
which receives the confident and final answer, "The 
Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory." This is 
enough, and the gates of the eternal city of God lift 
high their heads, and the doors swing back upon their 
golden hinges, while the King of glory, "leading cap- 
tive a multitude of captives," and in triumphal 
march, passes through, and leads the rejoicing pro- 
cession along the golden streets of the heavenly 



INTERMEDIATE STATE OF DEAD 149 

Jerusalem to the martial music of the celestial band, 
into the very presence of Jehovah, and says with 
exuberant delight: ''Behold, I and the children whom 
God hath given me." It was a great occasion, and 
no doubt the angels of light struck the strings of 
their harps with unusual energy, and made the environ- 
ment ring with the praises of Him who had delivered 
all them ''who through fear of death were all their 
lifetime subject to bondage." 

Those gates have never lowered their heads and 
those doors have never been closed since the victorious 
Lord led His captives in triumph through them, and 
from then till no-\v they have afforded "a new and 
living way" of access into the presence of God. And 
as the children of God die under the gospel dispensa- 
tion, they go directly to heaven, and enter upon the 
enjoyment of personal and direct fellowship with the 
heavenly Father. There is no intermediate Paradise 
now for the Lord's people, God having "provided 
some better thing for us" through Christ. Hence 
Stephen, just before he died, with his face shining 
like the face of an angel, said, "Behold, I see the 
heavens opened" — ^not Paradise; that was the best the 
ancients could do "apart from us," but "God has 
provided some better thing concerning us," and 
Stephen, dying in the service of God under the gospel 
dispensation, was permitted to look directly into 
heaven itself, with the assurance that he would take 
up his home there upon quitting his body. And the 
glorious proto-martyr exultantly continues, "And I 
see the Son of man standing on the right hand of 
God" — not Abraham's bosom now; that was the best 
that could be done for the servants of the Lord under 
the old covenant, but "God has provided some better 



150 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

thing concerning ns." Jnst as Stephen was about 
to leave the earth, Jesus arose from His seat at the 
right hand of God to receive him unto Himself, and 
introduce him to the heavenly host as another one of 
His ransomed children, and no doubt the ^' choir 
invisible" sang praise to Jehovah in honor of the 
occasion. And Stephen, with his last expiring breath, 
and with visions of the heavenly home luring him on, 
exclaimed in triumph: ''Lord Jesus, receive my 
spirit." What a glorious death! 

And now, in conclusion, let us briefly consider the 
text: *'We are of good courage, I say, and are willing 
rather to be absent from the body, and to be at home 
with the Lord." This passage, together with the one 
concerning Stephen, thoroughly refutes the cold, mate- 
rialistic doctrine of ''soul-sleeping." Stephen said, 
"Lord Jesus, receive my spirit" — not the grave. And 
Paul longed to "be absent from the body, and to be 
at home with the Lord." The great apostle joyfully 
looked forward to being at home with the Lord while 
absent from the body; that is, between death and the 
resurrection. A person who contends that the soul 
sleeps in the grave with the body, in view of the 
language of Stephen and Paul on the subject, is 
beyond the reach of reason. "At home with the 
Lord!" Paul was then a pilgrim and a stranger in 
this world, but was on his journey home, and visions 
of the glory of that home that he was nearing cheered 
him on and filled him with courage to persevere unto 
the end of this life. "Farewell, vain world, I am 
going home," is language that every child of God may 
use as he trudges along the path of life, that is 
sometimes "dark and dreary." Before him the pros- 
pect of heaven will become ' ' brighter and brighter 



INTERMEDIATE STATE OF DEAD 151 

unto the perfect day," while ** Jesus, all the day long, 
is his joy and his song.'* No Paradise now, *'God 
having provided some better thing for us.'' **Unto 
him that sitteth on the throne, and unto the Lamb, be 
the blessing, and the honor, and the glory, and the 
dominion, for ever and ever." Amen and amen. 



CHRISTIANITY ITS OWN PROOF 

A SERMON 

Text. — **Ye men of Israel, take heed to yourselves as 
touching these men, what you are about to do. For before 
these days rose up Theudas, giving himself out to be some- 
body; to whom a number of men, about four hundred, joined 
themselves: who was slain; and all, as many as obeyed him, 
were dispersed, and came to nought. After this man rose up 
Judas of Galilee in the days of the enrolment, and drew away 
some of the people after him: he also perished; and all, as 
many as obeyed him, were scattered abroad. And now I say 
unto you, Eefrain from these men, and let them alone: for if 
this counsel or this work be of men, it will be overthrown: 
but if it is of God, ye will not be able to overthrow them ; 
lest haply ye be found even to be fighting against God.'* — 
Acts 5: 35-39. 

THE success of the apostles in winning disciples 
to Christ excited the anger of the Jewish rulers 
and leaders to a very high pitch, and they resorted 
to very harsh means in their effort to prevent the 
spread of the new teaching. They arrested the apos- 
tles and put them in prison, ''but an angel of the 
Lord by night opened the prison doors, and brought 
them out, and said. Go ye, and stand and speak in 
the temple to the people all the words of this life.'* 
Upon receiving this instruction ''they entered into 
the temple about daybreak, and taught." Early that 
morning the high priest called the council together 
and sent to have the prisoners brought before them 
for trial. Not finding the apostles in the prison, the 

152 



CHRISTIANITY ITS OWN PROOF 153 

messengers returned and said: ''The prison-house we 
found shut in all safety, and the keepers standing at 
the doors: but when we had opened, we found no 
man within." This report greatly perplexed the high 
priest and his associates, and, while they were won- 
dering in regard to the circumstance, ''there came 
one and told them, Behold, the men whom ye put in 
prison are in the temple, standing and teaching the 
people. Then went the captain with the officers, and 
brought them, but without violence; for they feared 
the people, lest they should be stoned." 

When the apostles appeared before the council, the 
high priest addressed them, saying: "We strictly 
charged you not to teach in this name: and behold, 
ye have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and 
intend to bring this man's blood upon us." Little 
did this howling mob expect when they said to Pilate, 
"His blood be on us, and on our children," that 
they would so soon experience the reality of their own 
imprecation. But their sins are now finding them out, 
and their consciences are feeling the prick of the goad 
of guilt. To the high priest's speech Peter made the 
following noble reply: "We must obey God rather 
than men. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, 
whom ye slew, hanging him on a tree. Him did God 
exalt with his right hand to be a Prince and a 
Saviour, to give repentance to Israel, and remission 
of sins. And we are witnesses of these things; and 
so is the Holy Spirit, whom God hath given to them 
that obey him." This shaft went home to the hearts 
of the persecutors of the apostles, and threw them 
into such a rage that they "were minded to slay 
them." It was at this critical juncture that Gamaliel, 
an honorable Pharisee, "stood up in the council," and 



154 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

addressed it in the lan^age of our text. That his 
counsel was wise and judicious is perfectly manifest. 
The best way to dispose of some things is to refer 
them to the arbitrament of events, and sometimes the 
quickest method of killing an error is to let it 
severely alone, for frequently error fattens and thrives 
on agitation. 

Gamaliel fortified his position by referring to 
recent events with which the members of the council 
were evidently acquainted, and sought thereby to 
allay the fury of the high priest and his associates, 
and get them to leave the matter involved to be 
decided by the natural course of events. His argu- 
ment was based upon the soundest principles of 
reason, for if the doctrine which the apostles were 
preaching had been of men, it would soon have fallen 
to pieces like a rope of sand, and would not have 
outlived that generation. The fact that the gospel of 
Jesus Christ did not sink of its own weight is proof 
that it is of divine origin, and that men can not 
overthrow it. When we analyze the cause of Christ 
and look at it in the light of its history, we discover 
a conspicuous absence from it of all those factors and 
combinations of factors upon which men are accus- 
tomed to rely for the success of human enterprises. 
Of course it is trite to say that Jesus of Nazareth is 
the great hero of the gospel story, and that the whole 
system of Christianity revolves about Him, and is 
by Him held together. He is its foundation, and its 
stability depends upon the validity of His claims. 
He claimed to be the Son of God in a unique sense, 
in that He claimed to be "the only begotten Son of 
God'* — the Son of God in a sense in which no other 
being in the universe can be said to be the Son of 



CHRISTIANITY ITS OWN PROOF 155 

God. Let us scrutinize this wonderful person to see 
if His equally wonderful success can be explained on 
the hypothesis that He was merely a man. 

Sometimes it happens that the place from which a 
man comes gives him eclat and gains for him the 
attention and respect of the people. If a professional 
man from New York or London appears in a com- 
munity to practice his profession, the city from which 
he comes throws around him a sort of halo that gives 
him prestige to start with. But Jesus came from 
Nazareth of Galilee, and was handicapped seriously 
by that fact. Galilee was the meanest division of 
Palestine, and Nazareth was the meanest spot in 
Galilee. So disreputable was it that there was an 
adage, ''Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" 
and Jesus was called a ''Nazarene" by way of con- 
tempt. There was nothing about the place of His 
origin to commend Him to the favorable consideration 
of the people among whom He lived and taught and 
worked, but much to excite prejudice against Him, 
and hamper and embarrass Him in the promotion of 
His claims. 

It occurs not infrequently that a man possessed of 
fine scholarship can, on account of that fact, readily 
gain the attention of the people, and get a hearing 
at their hands for the enterprise that he advocates. 
It is cause for felicitation that education is constantly 
advancing in the estimation of men, and, other things 
being equal, a good education is about the best capital 
with which a young man can begin life. Usually an 
educated young man will outdistance the one who is 
uneducated, in the race of life, and achieve success 
in business, while the other plods along at a tremen- 
dous disadvantage, possibly having a hard time to 



156 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

make a comfortable living. But how was it with 
Jesus? Was He known among His countrjonen as a 
finished scholar who might be regarded as a com- 
petent leader in a great enterprise? Far from it. 
In their astonishment at His wisdom the people said: 
**How knoweth this man letters, having never 
learned?" This would seem to indicate that He had 
no school advantages whatever. While He could read, 
and appeared to have an intuitive knowledge of the 
Scriptures and of nature, yet He was not educated 
in the popular sense of the term, and hence He was 
destitute of this element of power to draw the atten- 
tion of His fellow-citizens to Himself, and conciliate 
them to the cause that He launched and promoted. 

Then, again, wealth is a mighty power in the 
affairs of men, and if one is possessed of large 
riches, that fact opens a way for one into the good 
graces of the people. It sometimes comes to pass 
that a man, almost solely on account of much money, 
can make his way into legislative chambers and Gov- 
ernors' seats; and it is said that legislative bodies 
have been swayed, in their legislation, by money. 
What is it that a man can not buy with money? 
Men can be bought, and it has been said that "every 
man has his price," and while this indictment is 
probably too broad, yet there is too much truth in it. 
Men can buy wives, and women, husbands, with gold. 
Sometimes a European snob, a sprig of royalty pos- 
sibly, hears of an American girl who is an heiress to 
a large fortune, and at once he plans a trip to the 
New World to gobble up that fortune, and inciden- 
tally, of course, get a woman whom he will, per 
graiiam, call wife; and the little fool girl sells herself 
for a worthless title and throws her money in! 



CHRISTIANITY ITS OWN PROOF 157 

Did Jesus have anything of this kind to draw men 
to Him, and cause them to give favorable considera- 
tion to His claims? Far from it. While the foxes 
had holes, the Son of man had not where to lay His 
head. When His natural mother and legal father 
reached Bethlehem, the place of His birth, although 
they were no doubt footsore and travel-weary, there 
was *'no room for them in the inn." And the prob- 
able reason that there ''was no room for them in the 
inn" is that they did not have money to buy room 
with. If Joseph had been a millionaire, no doubt 
there would have been "room for them in the inn." 
This story was related to me in the community where 
the principal in the narrative lived: This man moved 
into the county of his adoption in an early day and 
took up a large body of land, and in process of time 
became quite wealthy. He handled cattle on a large 
scale, and he made frequent trips to Chicago with 
large shipments of beef cattle. On one of these 
occasions, after selling his cattle, he went to a hotel 
for lodgment. He had been about the stockyards, and 
his brogans were muddy and his farmer's clothing 
was somewhat soiled. When he went to the desk to 
register, the clerk eyed him suspiciously, and hesitated 
about taking him in, alleging scarcity of room. The 
old farmer looked around for a moment, and then 
said somewhat quizzically, ''What's your old hotel 
worth? If you don't price it too high, I'll buy it, 
and I reckon I can stay then," and he simultaneously 
exhibited a great roll of money; and then there was 
plenty of room. Money talks and money pulls. But 
Jesus had no power of this kind. He was so poor 
that He had to perform a miracle to get a little piece 
of money to pay His head tax. 



158 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

Sometimes a man has a strong pull throngh 
wealthy and influential friends, and in this way he 
is able to advance his cause. But how was it with 
Jesus in this regard? He had a body of close and 
loyal friends, but where did He get them? and what 
was their standing in the general community? Did 
He go to the imperial city of Rome and select from 
among her scholars and statesmen men to accompany 
Him in His work and take it up and carry it on 
after His death? Nay, verily. Did He go to Athens 
and make choice of some of her philosophers and 
orators to advocate His claims? Truly not. Did He 
go to Jerusalem and call some of her priests and 
scribes to be His apostles and chief supporters? Far 
from it. On the contrary. He went along the shores 
of the Sea of Galilee, and by custom-houses, and 
called fishermen and tax-gatherers to the most impor- 
tant posts of His kingdom — men who were without 
social prestige and political influence. They were 
uncouth and uneducated men, who occupied the hum- 
blest walks of life — such men as no mere man would 
have thought of selecting to promote a great enter- 
prise. That Peter, a leader among the apostles, was 
an unpolished and rough specimen of the genus homo, 
is evident from his conduct when he was accused 
by a Jewish maid and others of being a follower of 
Jesus. Under the third accusation he ''began to curse 
and to swear," and in the most profane manner he 
denied his Lord. Profanity was no new thing in the 
vocabulary of Peter, but was simply a revival of his 
old fisherman's habit. And he could not have chosen 
a more successful method of convincing his accusers 
that he was not a disciple of Christ, for profanity 
was wholly foreign to the life and teaching of the 



CHRISTIANITY ITS OWN PROOF 159 

Master. If a man wishes to demonstrate that he is 
not a Christian, all he has to do is to begin to use 
profane language, for by that the people will know 
that he does not belong to the school of Christ. 

Thus we see that the success of the cause of Christ 
can not be accounted for from the standpoint of 
worldly agencies, for not only were these elements of 
power and influence not enlisted in His behalf, but 
they were all arrayed against Him. Education, 
wealth, philosophy, tradition, established religions, 
oratory, social influence, the arm of law, priestcraft, 
etc., all conspired in efforts to put the gospel down 
and destroy it from the face of the earth. And, in 
addition to the handicaps enumerated above, the 
Saviour was finally condemned as a malefactor and 
crucified between two thieves, and this would have 
been enough to consign His cause to infamy and 
eternal forgetfulness if He had been a mere man. 
No human cause could have survived the circum- 
stances of adversity under which Christianity fought 
its first battles and won its first victories. On the 
contrary, it would have found its level among for- 
gotten delusions long before the passing of the gener- 
ation of men and women then living. It is not at all 
wonderful that the Master's closest friends forsook 
Him in the hour of His direst need. When they saw 
that Jesus was going to be put to death, their courage 
failed them, and their hope forsook them, and they 
naturally fell into the deepest depths of despair. 
From their viewpoint they saw no possible chance for 
the cause that they had espoused to survive, and 
hence they gave up the enterprise as lost, and betook 
themselves to their former occupations. In that hour 
of darkness and distress the whole scheme revealed 



160 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

itself to them as visionary, and impressed them with 
the idea that they had been mistaken in regard to 
the whole matter. Their hope died when the Lord 
died, and was buried in the tomb of Joseph of 
Arimathea. 

Not only were the disciples heart-broken and thor- 
oughly disappointed, but the enemies of their Master 
were hilarious and exultant over their apparent suc- 
cess in suppressing the cause of the Nazarene. It 
looked as if their success was complete, and it would 
have been if God had not been in the gospel of His 
Son. Its enemies were yet to learn that they were 
fighting against God, and that their apparent success 
was but the beginning of their utter defeat. A few 
days after the death of the Lord His disciples, who 
had forsaken Him and abandoned Him to His fate, 
were boldly standing before the people in His name, 
and filling Jerusalem with the doctrine which they 
preached concerning Him. What has brought about 
this marvelous change in their conduct? A little 
while ago they were arrant cowards denying their 
Lord, but now they are as bold as lions and are 
preaching Him as Lord and Christ. They "have been 
begotten again unto a living hope" by the resurrec- 
tion of the Master, and are now willing to suffer 
and die for Him. It is not my purpose to discuss 
the resurrection of Christ extensively here, as that 
is done in another sermon. I simply allude to it in 
this connection to indicate the ground of this won- 
derful change in the deportment of the apostles. 
These men are now boldly preaching Jesus and the 
resurrection, and charging home upon their hearers 
the guilt of murder. It is one of the most wonderful 
spectacles in human history, and it challenges the 



CHRISTIANITY ITS OWN PROOF 161 

admiration of every appreciative soul. Hats off in 
the presence of such heroes as are now before us, 
ready to lay down their lives in the service of Him 
whom they have so recently denied and forsaken! 
Their names are entitled to be written high upon the 
scroll of fame, and their brows to be encircled in 
chaplets of immortal glory. 

Be it remembered, too, that this was not done in a 
corner. It would have been suspicious if these men 
had gone off up into Galilee to make their proclama- 
tion in some obscure corner of that unsavory district. 
It would have been to invite and assure defeat in 
their great enterprise. Not in G-alilee, but "first in 
Jerusalem, then in Judaea, then in Samaria, and then 
unto the uttermost parts of the earth.'* Right there 
in the city where Jesus had been crucified and buried, 
in the presence of wily scribes, alert Pharisees and 
conscienceless priests, and where enemies had every 
opportunity to confute them, they proclaimed Jesus 
as having arisen from the dead, ascended up on high, 
and been coronated in the midst of the heavens as 
King of kings and Lord of lords. It is no surprise 
that such a message, delivered under most unusual 
circumstances, brought three thousand souls to the 
foot of the cross to take upon themselves the yoke 
of Him who had said: ''Come unto me, all ye that 
labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am 
meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto 
your souls." The proclamation of the apostles fell 
upon the hearts of many of their hearers like oil 
upon troubled waters, and brought them from dark- 
ness to light, and translated them into the kingdom 
of God's dear Son. There was joy in heaven and in 



162 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

Jerusalem that Pentecostal day when the unsearchable 
riches of Jesus Christ were opened up to the people 
who were assembled in the "city of the great King'' 
from ''every nation under heaven." Christianity was 
proving itself to be divine by what it was accomplish- 
ing, and starting upon a career that was destined 
under God to carry the name of Jesus to earth's 
remotest bounds. 

But this cause, which started so auspiciously, was 
not to have smooth sailing throughout the voyage 
which it began that day. In a little while the 
enemies of the cross inaugurated a crusade of opposi- 
tion that apparently threatened its extermination. The 
priests, scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees and elders, moved 
by prejudice and jealousy, instituted a campaign of 
persecution that brought about the martyrdom of 
Stephen, and scattered the disciples from Jerusalem 
like autumn leaves before the wind. No doubt these 
enemies congratulated themselves upon what they 
regarded as their success in putting a stop to this 
new doctrine; but they did not realize that they were 
dealing, not only with men, but also with God. If 
they had been dealing simply with men, their success 
would have been complete and permanent, and but 
little, if anything, more would have been heard of 
Jesus and the resurrection. But they failed to reckon 
with the Psalmist's idea that God makes the wrath 
of man to praise Him, and hence they reckoned without 
their host. When Jesus commanded His apostles to 
''make disciples of all the nations," He assured them 
of His presence with them in their work, and this was 
a pledge that their labors should not be in vain. 

The wrath of man drove the disciples from Jeru- 
salem, but the result was far different from what the 



CHRISTIANITY ITS OWN PROOF 163 

persecutors expected, for they "that were scattered 
abroad went about preaching the word," or sowing 
the seed of the kingdom of God, and as a result 
churches sprang up all over the country. Yonder 
stands a stalk of thistle in the field, crowned with a 
head of thistle-seed, and while you are looking at it 
a whirlwind comes along, gets hold of that head of 
thistle, and literally tears it to pieces, and it looks 
as if the thistle were destroyed. But you observe 
that the atmosphere is laden with little objects that 
are flying in every direction. The wind is sowing 
thistle-seeds, and after awhile, instead of one thistle 
stalk, there are scores of them as a result of the 
apparent destruction of the parent stalk. So it was 
with the persecution in Jerusalem, that scattered the 
disciples abroad. The persecutors thought that they 
were destroying the cause of the Nazarene, but they 
were simply propagating it, and no doubt they were 
greatly chagrined when they heard that those whom 
they had driven out from Jerusalem were going 
through the land preaching the gospel, making disci- 
ples, and establishing churches. God was making the 
wrath of man to praise Him, and bringing to naught 
the machinations of His enemies. He was proving 
that Christianity is divine, and teaching its adver- 
saries that they could not overthrow it. 

Persecution followed persecution in rapid succes- 
sion, so that some writers distinguish between ten 
general persecutions, but perhaps it would be more 
accurate, as suggested by Prof. Philip SchafP, to 
regard it as one persecution with occasional breaks. 
Sometimes the persecution was conducted by infuriated 
mobs, and sometimes under the sanction or at the 
instigation of kings and emperors, and always with 



164 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

cruelty and in violation of all the principles of 
justice and equity. The records of the persecutions 
of those days constitute one of the darkest and blood- 
iest pages of human history, and the reading of it 
makes one sick at heart. Human ingenuity exhausted 
itself in devising ways and means of torture, and 
no extreme of cruelty was considered too severe to be 
administered to the disciples of Jesus Christ. It 
seems almost incredible that men could become so 
steeped in iniquity as to inflict such misery upon their 
fellows as Christian martyrs suffered during those 
dark and bloody days, and for no reason other than 
they accepted the Son of God as their Lord and 
Saviour. The dungeon, the gibbet, the fagot, and 
every other device for torture that could spring from 
the skill of man, were brought into requisition to 
inflict the most excruciating agony upon blameless 
men and women because they accepted Christianity 
and acknowledged Jesus to be their Lord and Master. 
For this head and front of their offending some 
men's tongues were cut out, so that they could not 
speak the name of their blessed Lord, while others 
were thrown to lions or pitched into cauldrons of 
boiling oil to perish in this awful manner. 

The first Roman persecution was instigated by 
Nero, that moral monstrosity and prodigy of deprav- 
ity, and on the flimsiest pretext. Two-thirds of Rome 
had been destroyed by a tremendous conflagration 
which was thought to be incendiary, and the people, 
wild with excitement, were breathing out threatening 
and slaughter against the miscreant who had perpe- 
trated the diabolical deed. Guilt was about to be 
saddled upon the emperor, who was probably the 
criminal in the case, and to save himself, and know- 



CHRISTIANITY ITS OWN PROOF 165 

ing that there was great prejudice against the Chris- 
tians, he resorted to the cruel ruse of accusing them 
of the crime, and proceeded to treat them as guilty 
without judge or jury. The cruelties that this 
caricature upon humanity inflicted upon innocent 
Christians beggar description, and even at this dis- 
tance of both time and space from the scenes of his 
perfidy, one turns away from the picture with feelings 
of disgust and resentment. The clothing of some was 
saturated with oil and they were burned at night to 
illuminate the streets, while others were fed to hungry 
lions. The ' ' Schaff-Herzog Religious Encyclopasdia^' 
makes this harrowing statement in regard to the 
Neronian persecution: "In the gardens of Nero, the 
present St. Peter's Square, the Christians were cru- 
cified; sewn into hides of wild beasts, and thrown 
before the dogs; enveloped with some inflammable 
stuff, raised on poles, and used as torches, etc." 

Things went on thus under the reign of Vespasian, 
Titus, Domitian and Nerva, and during those periods 
very many Christians suffered martyrdom, while many 
others suffered in various other ways, sometimes being 
subjected to cruelty that was worse than death. 
Through all these hardships and adversities Chris- 
tianity lived and flourished, and disciples of Christ 
were multiplied exceedingly. If this cause had been 
of men, it would have weltered and died in its own 
blood long before it was espoused by Constantino and 
given the protection of his throne. The fact that 
it did not die a premature death under the circum- 
stances shows that it was of God, and that He was 
its guardian and protector. Without heavenly pro- 
tection it could not have survived the evils that beset 
it in the days of its youth, but would have withered 



166 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

and died like a tender plant when uprooted from its 
native soil. Herein lies a proof of its divinity, upon 
which we may stand and rejoice in hope of the glory 
of G-od, and look forward to the attainment of immor- 
tality and eternal life. No, we are not following 
cunningly devised fables in accepting Jesus Christ as 
our Master and Saviour, but are following the lead 
of the truth as it is in Christ Jesus, our divine Lord. 
With Paul we can triumphantly exclaim, ''For we 
know that if the earthly house of our tabernacle be 
dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not 
made with hands, eternal in the heavens,'^ and can 
with the utmost assurance receive the pledge of our 
blessed Lord that He is preparing places for us in 
the regions of eternal glory. 

It is a very significant fact that the gospel has 
achieved its most conspicuous triumphs in the most 
enlightened and civilized parts of the footstool of 
God. It was thus in the beginning, and has been thus 
from then till now. Our holy religion has always 
courted the strongest light that could possibly be 
thrown upon it. It went to the imperial city of Rome, 
and there, in the dazzling light of the civilization of 
the metropolis of the ancient world, it unfurled its 
glorious banner and invited lawyers, scholars, states- 
men, and citizens generally, to attach themselves to 
the meek and lowly Nazarene, and follow His leader- 
ship, and succeeded in subduing some of the house- 
hold of Caesar to the scepter of the King of Israel. 
It went to Greece and boldly challenged the attention 
of philosophers, orators and poets, and made disciples 
of Christ in the leading cities of that great and 
enlightened country. Christianity in some form has 
dominated all Europe for ages and established itself 



CHRISTIANITY ITS OWN PROOF 167 

in the most advanced regions of those wonderful coun- 
tries. It has not worked with a hidden hand, nor 
skulked in the dark corners of the earth, but has 
fearlessly walked out into the open, and invited the 
severest scrutiny as to its wonderful claims. Under 
the circumstances it is easier to believe in the divinity 
of the gospel of Christ than to believe it to be a 
delusion, and *'if weak be thy faith, why choose the 
harder side?" 

''The tree is known by its fruit," and if Chris- 
tianity be judged by this standard it has nothing to 
fear or be ashamed of, but everything of which to be 
proud. It has brought to pass the prophecy of 
Isaiah, who, looking forward to the renovating effect 
of the story of the cross, said: "Instead of the thorn 
shall come up the fir-tree, and instead of the brier 
shall come up the myrtle- tree. " It has caused deserts 
to become fertile and blossom as the rose, and made 
music and joy take the place of sorrow and mourn- 
ing. The vision of the evangelic prophet has been 
realized in the effects of the gospel in the world, so 
that ''the people that walked in darkness have seen 
a great light: they that dwelt in the land of the 
shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined." 
Ezekiel saw a striking vision in connection with Jeru- 
salem, of which he gives the following graphic descrip- 
tion: "Then brought he me out by the way of the 
gate northward, and led me round by the way without 
unto the outer gate, by the way of the gate that 
looketh toward the east ; and, behold, there ran out 
waters on the right side. When the man went forth 
eastward with the line in his hand, he measured a 
thousand cubits, and he caused me to pass through 
the waters, waters that were to the ankles. Again 



168 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

he measured a thousand, and caused me to pass 
through the waters, waters that were to the knees. 
Again he measured a thousand, and caused me to pass 
through the waters, waters that were to the loins. 
Afterward he measured a thousand; and it was a 
river that I could not pass through: for the waters 
were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not 
be passed through. And he said unto me, Son of 
man, hast thou seen this ? Then he brought me, and 
caused me to return to the bank of the river. Now 
when I had returned, behold, upon the bank of the 
river were very many trees on the one side and on 
the other. Then said he unto me, These waters issue 
forth toward the eastern region, and shall go down 
into the Arabah: and they shall go toward the sea; 
into the sea shall the waters go which were made to 
issue forth; and the waters shall be healed." This is 
a beautiful symbolic representation of the beginning, 
spread and effects of the gospel in the world. It 
began as a small stream, but widened and deepened 
as it went on its way, till- it became a great river 
which poured its contents into the Dead Sea of 
humanity and healed and sweetened its bitter waters. 
These gospel waters have healed and sweetened 
human life in all of its ramifications and relations. 
It has healed and sweetened domestic life as seen in 
a typical Christian family. A Christian home is the 
most delightful place on the face of the earth to those 
who belong to it. Sweeter and more beautiful flowers 
grow and flourish there than anywhere else in the 
wide, wide world, and the most cheering music beneath 
the skies floats out upon the atmosphere that sur- 
rounds such a home. Christian parents and children 
constitute a fellowship which angels might covet. 






CHRISTIANITY ITS OWN PROOF 169 

Contrast a typical Christian family with a typ- 
ical pagan family, and you will at once see the 
difference, and when you remember that the dif- 
ference is due to the uplifting and sanctifying influ- 
ences of the religion of Jesus Christ, you will be able 
to more fully appreciate that religion. These waters 
have healed and sweetened national life by introducing 
into it principles that prompt and urge and enable 
people to do justice, love mercy, and fear God in all 
their dealings, and thus make society like the Paradise 
of Jehovah. Here is room for another contrast to the 
advantage of Christianity. Contrast a Christian com- 
munity with a heathen community, and you will be 
struck with the wonderful difference in favor of the 
former. Who would want to exchange a home among 
followers of Christ for one among people that "know 
not God, and obey not the gospel of our Lord and 
Saviour Jesus Christ"? As a conspicuous example of 
the elevating and purifying influence of the gospel, 
take the Fiji Islands. Less than a century ago the 
inhabitants of those islands were cannibals, eating 
each other's flesh and drinking each other's blood. 
But finally the gospel found its way ' into those 
benighted regions, and caused the "light of the knowl- 
edge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ'* 
to shine unto those besotted people, and as a conse- 
quence a thorough moral and spiritual revolution has 
taken place. Now those islands are dotted over with 
Christian temples in which the people assemble to 
worship God, and family worship is quite general 
among them. A woman who spent a number of years 
in that territory says that about the last thing that 
one upon the streets at night hears is the songs and 
prayers of family devotion, and that this is repeated 



170 SEKMONS AND ADDRESSES 

in the early morning. Is the thing that could effect 
such a change in so short a time human or divine? 
I repeat with emphasis that the success of the 
gospel under the circumstances proves to the exclusion 
of all reasonable doubt its divine paternity and its 
divine mission among men. If it be suggested that 
the success of Mohammedanism and Mormonism 
weakens the force of this argument, a sufficient answer 
is at hand : The cases are by no means parallel, for these 
isms operate upon lines that cross those upon which 
Christianity operates, at right angles. The gospel 
preaches self-denial, while the isms preach self-grati- 
fication and self-indulgence. Jesus says: ''If any 
man would come after me, let him deny himself, and 
take up Ms cross, and follow me." He had no 
worldly honor or emoluments to offer men to induce 
them to attach themselves to Him and His cause, and 
when a man proposed to follow Him, probably actu- 
ated by sordid motives. He replied: ''The foxes have 
holes, and the birds of the heaven have nests; but the 
Son of man hath not where to lay his head.*' The 
gospel appeals to the very best that is in men, while 
the isms mentioned appeal to the baser passions of 
human nature. Christianity seeks to curb and check 
ambition, pride, lust, etc., while these are the propen- 
sities to which the isms cater. Mormonism was 
founded upon polygamy, and Mohammedanism looked 
to the sword for success, and both of these abomina- 
tions the Lord Jesus Christ unsparingly condemns. 
Christianity teaches that "denying ungodliness and 
worldly lusts, we should live soberly and righteously 
and godly in this present world," while the isms 
cultivate the things here condemned and are slack 
in the things that are commended. These isms are as 



CHRISTIANITY ITS OWN PROOF 171 

different from Christianity as night is from day, and 
their success was achieved through influences that 
Jesus Christ pointedly condemns. No, the success of 
these isms does not militate against the argument 
for the divinity of Christianity, based upon its success. 
Now, if the Christian religion is from heaven, 
with the approval of God stamped upon it, as it 
certainly is, what should be the attitude of rational 
men and women toward it? There is but one reason- 
able answer to this question, and that is that people 
should be in haste to accept this religion and make it 
the guide of their lives. To reject the gospel, its 
Christ, and its salvation, is most irrational and unac- 
countable, and men do not act thus with respect to 
the ordinary affairs of life. Men are not slow to take 
advantage of a good business opportunity, and are 
upon the alert to discover such an opportunity. Peo- 
ple in ill health will spend money and compass sea 
and land that they may be restored to bodily sound- 
ness, while at the same time they reject Him who 
offers them salvation from sin, and eternal life. What 
would be thought of a man who, if an epidemic were 
raging and destroying people by thousands, and a 
physician should appear with a specific that was never 
known to fail to effect a cure, and offer it to the 
afflicted without money and without price, would 
spurn the remedy and treat the physician with indif- 
ference, if not with contempt? Would such a man 
be regarded as in his right mind? Surely not; his 
friends would certainly look after his mental condi- 
tion and take steps to have him cared for. And yet 
that is the way multiplied thousands of people act 
with respect to Christ and the gospel. The epidemic 
of sin is raging among men and destroying myriads 



172 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

of souls, and when Jesus, the great Physician, appears 
with a spiritual specific that has never been known 
to fail to effect a cure, and offers it to the sin-sick 
without money and without price, thousands reject the 
remedy and treat the Physician with indifference! 
To such may be applied the prophetic saying that the 
Saviour applied to the people of His day who rejected 
Him: 

**For this people's heart is waxed gross, 
And their ears are dull of hearing, 
And their eyes they have closed; 
Lest haply they should perceive with their eyes, 
And hear with their ears, 
And understand with their heart, 
And should turn again, 
And I should heal them.'* 

This is the necessary result of the love and practice 
of sin, and people who hear the gospel and feel no 
yearning for its salvation are in a very bad way, and 
should look well to their spiritual condition. Jesus 
says, ''Look unto me, all ye ends of the earth, and 
be ye saved,'' and this is a blessed invitation that 
ought to be heeded by every sin-sick and sin-con- 
demned soul. '*Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye 
to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, 
buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without 
money and without price." What a gracious invita- 
tion! What a priceless privilege! Dying man, act 
before it is too late. 



THE NEW HEAVENS AND THE 
NEW EARTH 

A SERMON 

Text. — **But, according to his promise, we look for new 
heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.'* — 
2 Pet. 3:12. 

THE promise of a new earth implies the destruction 
of the old one, and that is positively asserted in 
immediate connection with our text, in the following 
dramatic language: **But the day of the Lord will 
come as a thief; in the which the heavens shall pass 
away with a great noise, and the elements shall be 
dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and the 
works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing 
that these things are thus all to be dissolved, what 
manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy living 
and godliness, looking for and earnestly desiring the 
coming of the day of God, by reason of which the 
heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the ele- 
ments shall melt with fervent heat." This description 
of the winding up of the affairs of this earth with its 
heavenly environment is certainly graphic and some- 
what appalling, but it will be nothing new in the 
history of the earth, except as to the means of destruc- 
tion. The earth has been destroyed again and again, 
but its destruction has always been brought about by 
means of water, but its next and final destruction is 
to be accomplished by means of fire. 

173 



174 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

This is explicitly stated in the same chapter from 
which our text has been taken, in the following vivid 
terms: ''For this they wilfully forget, that there were 
heavens from of old, and an earth compacted out of 
water and amidst water, by the word of God; by 
which means the world that then was, being over- 
flowed with water, perished: but the heavens that 
now are, and the earth, by the same word have 
been stored up for fire, being reserved against the 
day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men." 
The Greek phrase which is here rendered ''stored 
up for fire" might as well be translated "stored with 
fire," and the Revised Version, both the Oxford and 
the American editions, puts this in the margin as an 
alternate rendering, and it exactly expresses the mean- 
ing of the original. The earth has always carried 
in its bosom the elements of its own destruction, so 
that when the time for a destruction arrived, the 
means necessary to that end were at hand. In har- 
mony with this fact the earth is stored with fire 
which will be in readiness for the final conflagration, 
and here is another instance in which divine revela- 
tion pioneered the way for natural science. Geologists 
tell us that the center of the earth is a mass of flery, 
molten matter, and this is indicated by volcanic erup- 
tions and other natural phenomena. This fact Peter 
knew by inspiration when he said that the earth is 
"stored with fire," and he gives us to understand 
that this fire will be used in "the day of judgment 
and destruction of ungodly men." 

It is an interesting and noteworthy fact that the 
earth has risen out of the ruins of its every great 
destruction with conditions that adapted it to higher 
and better forms of life than those it carried before 



NEW HEAVENS AND NEW EARTH ITS 

its destruction. The destruction of the earth does not 
mean its absolute extinction. Scientists tell us that mat- 
ter is not subject to absolute destruction — that not a 
particle of matter has ever been put out of existence. Its 
form can be changed, but it still remains in existence, not- 
withstanding the many transformations through which 
it may be made to pass. This being true of any 
single particle of the matter of the earth, it is true 
of every particle of the earth's matter, and therefore 
it is true of the whole earth. Hence it follows that 
the idea of a new earth does not carry with it the 
notion that the matter that composes it is absolutely 
new. The Bible says, ''If any man be in Christ, he 
is a new creature," but that does not mean that the 
man he was before has lost his identity. He has 
simply been made over, and in his re-creation he has 
been so thoroughly changed in his relations and aspira- 
tions that it is entirely appropriate to speak of him 
as a ''new creature." So it is in regard to the earth. 
It wiU rise out of the ruins of its destruction by fire 
so thoroughly renovated and changed that it may 
appropriately be contemplated as a new earth, old 
conditions having passed away; and as the earth came 
up out of the ruins of its last great destruction by 
water in the form of ice, with conditions adapting it 
to the life of a being partly physical and partly 
spiritual, such as man is, so it will come up out of 
its destruction by fire with conditions adapting it to 
the life of a being wholly spiritual, such as man will 
be after his resurrection and glorification. More of 
this later on. 

Peter tells us that we look for new heavens and 
a new earth "according to his [God's] promise," and 
that promise reads thus: "For, behold, I create new 

12 



176 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

heavens and a new earth, and the former things shaD 
not be remembered, nor come into mind. But be ye 
glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, 
behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people 
a joy. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in 
my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more 
heard in her, nor the voice of crying" (Isa. 65: 17-19). 
This brief prophetical description of the new earth 
is suggestive of everything that could be necessary to 
make it ''a thing of beauty and a joy for ever," and 
cause it to appeal with tremendous power to the very 
best that is in men, and stimulate them to even 
''agonize" to attain to citizenship therein. It is to be 
so transcendently glorious that it will blot from the 
minds of the redeemed all remembrance of the old 
earth and the old order of things, and lift them to 
the loftiest pinnacle of joy and gladness. ''The voice 
of weeping shall be heard no more in her, nor the 
voice of crying." What a delightful prospect is 
thus presented to the enraptured eye of faith, and 
what a contrast between the new and the old! 

The discordant voices of weeping and crying are 
prominent features of the old earth in which we now 
live, and countless thousands of human breasts are 
the sanctuaries of torn and bleeding hearts, and 
unnumbered myriads of eyes swim in tears and are 
inflamed with mournful weeping. Many a life down 
here in these low grounds of sorrow is simply one 
mighty sigh emanating from the cradle and ending 
in the grave. Men and women go through this world 
stooping and groaning under intolerable loads of bitter 
grief and pungent suffering, nursing aching heads and 
breaking hearts, and wishing that death would come 
to their relief. But the new world which beckons 



NEW HEAVENS AND NEW EARTH 177 

us onward and upward is to be free from all these 
disturbing factors, and will be possessed of everything 
that will be necessary to minister to the comfort, joy 
and pleasure of all those who through Christ shall 
receive the abundant entrance into the eternal king- 
dom of the King of kings and Lord of lords. But 
for this glorious prospect, human existence would be 
a stupendous failure, and human life a mocking farce, 
and the foundation for faith in the existence and 
overruling providence of God would be very insecure, 
and the vortex of atheism would draw the souls of 
men into its insatiate maw. But, blessed be God, our 
faith anticipates a better day, and our hope anchors 
us to the eternal throne of God, so that we can bid 
defiance to the howling storm, and set at naught the 
raging tempest. 

In the Book of Revelation John enlarges upon 
Isaiah's portrayal of the new heavens and the new 
earth in the following striking and fascinating man- 
ner: **And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: 
for the first heaven and the first earth are passed 
away; and the sea is no more. And I saw the holy 
city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from 
God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. 
And I heard a great voice out of the throne saying. 
Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he 
shall dwell with them; and they shall be his peoples, 
and God himself shall be with them, and be their 
God: and he shall wipe away every tear from their 
eyes; and death shaU be no more; neither shall there 
be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more: the first 
things are passed away. . . . And he carried me away 
in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and 
showed me the holy city Jerusalem, coming down out 



178 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

of heaven from God, having the glory of God: her 
light was like unto a stone most precious, as it were 
a jasper stone, clear as crystal: having a wall great 
and high; having twelve gates, and at the gates 
twelve angels; and names written thereon, which are 
the names of the twelve tribes of the children of 
Israel: on the east were three gates; and on the north 
three gates; and on the south three gates; and on the 
west three gates. And the wall of the city had twelve 
foundations, and on them twelve names of the twelve 
apostles of the Lamb. And he that spake with me 
had for a measure a golden reed to measure the city, 
and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof. And the 
city lieth foursquare, and the length thereof is as 
great as the breadth: and he measured the city with 
the reed, twelve thousand furlongs: the length and 
the breadth and the height thereof are equal. And 
he measured the wall thereof, a hundred and forty 
and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, 
that is, of an angel. And the building of the wall 
thereof was jasper: and the city was pure gold, like 
unto pure glass. The foundations of the wall of the 
city were adorned with all manner of precious stones. 
The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; 
the third, chalcedony; the fourth, emerald; the fifth, 
sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; 
the eighth, beryl; the ninth, topaz; the tenth, chryso- 
prase; the eleventh, jacinth; the twelfth, amethyst. 
And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; each one of 
the several gates was of one pearl: and the street of 
the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass. 
And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God the 
Almighty, and the Lamb, are the temple thereof. 
And the city hath no need of the sun, neither of the 



NEW HEAVENS AND NEW EARTH 179 

moon, to shine upon it: for the glory of God did 
lighten it, and the lamp thereof is the Lamb. And 
the nations shall walk amidst the light thereof: and 
the kings of the earth bring their glory into it. And 
the gates thereof shall in no wise be shut by day (for 
there shall be no night there) : and they shall bring 
the glory and the honor of the nations into it; and 
there shall in no wise enter into it anything unclean, 
or he that maketh an abomination and a lie: but only 
they that are written in the Lamb's book of life. 
And he showed me a river of water of life, bright as 
crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of 
the Lamb, in the midst of the street thereof. And 
on this side of the river and on that was the tree 
of life, bearing twelve manner of fruits, yielding its 
fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were 
for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no 
curse any more: and the throne of God and of the 
Lamb shall be therein: and his servants shall serve 
him; and they shall see his face; and his name shall 
be on their foreheads. And there shall be night no 
more; and they need no light of lamp, neither light 
of sun; for the Lord God shall give them light: and 
they shall reign for ever and ever." 

I make this long quotation because it exactly fits 
my subject, because it is so beautiful, sublime and 
interesting, and because the character of the Book 
of Revelation keeps many people from attempting to 
read it. Those who read this sermon will read this 
Scripture, and probably become so charmed with it 
that they will take up the book and read its pages 
with deep and increasing interest. Did uninspired 
poetic fancy ever conceive of such a word picture as 
is here presented? Did painter's brush ever put upon 



180 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

canvas so sublime a representation of the productions 
of uninspired imagination as we behold in this mar- 
velous delineation of things to come? I am not going 
to discuss the question as to whether this wonderful 
language is to be interpreted as literal or figurative, 
for whether they are the one or the other, or a com- 
bination of both, which is probable, the lessons con- 
tained therein are the same. Let us notice some 
portions of this enchanting Scripture, that are cer- 
tainly to be taken as literal; "And he [Grod] shall 
wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall 
be no more; neither shall there be mourning, nor 
crying, nor pain, any more." These things are said 
in contrast with facts that enter into our experiences 
in this world. In view of the tears that grief wrings 
from our eyes while we are in the flesh, how sweet 
and refreshing the assurance that there will be no 
tears in the new world, visions of which the word of 
God presents to the eye of faith. Death scourges the 
children of men through this world with scorpion 
cords, and hangs crepe upon our door-knobs to remind 
us of its merciless work. But this monster will not 
be known in the new earth which God's children will 
inhabit throughout eternity. 

**0 blessed day! O glorious hope! 
My soul rejoices at the thought 
That in that holy, happy land 
We'll take no more the parting hand.'* 

This old earth is full of mourning, crying and pain, 
for it is largely dominated by conditions that sadden 
our lives, lacerate our hearts, and fill our souls with 
trouble. But thanks be to God through our Lord and 
Saviour Jesus Christ, the children of the heavenly 



NEW HEAVENS AND NEW EARTH 181 

home will be subject to none of these harassing cir- 
cumstances. The eternal inheritance will be incor- 
ruptible, undefiled, and free from any intrusion of 
sorrow. In this description of the new earth we have 
everything that appeals to the very best that is in 
men, and it presents a lure that should incite the 
children of this earth to lay hold of the hope that is 
set before them in the gospel of the grace of God, 
and cause them to so live that when the time comes 
for them to lay aside the mortal coil, they can go 
hence singing: ''Farewell, vain world, I am going 
home." If we could only realize that this life is but 
a pilgrimage, and that we have no permanent abiding- 
place here below, we would certainly appreciate the 
importance and gracious opportunity of accepting the 
offer of eternal life that the gospel presents to those 
who obey heaven's glorious King, and strive to walk 
in ''all his ordinances and commandments blameless." 
"The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God 
is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord," and it is 
our privilege to choose between the two, and there 
should be no hesitation as to which to select. 

The old Canaan had its Jerusalem in which God's 
people took great pride, and which they loved with an 
intense love. Their poets sang its praises, and their 
statesmen gloried in the metropolis of their beloved 
country. With what joy did men, women and chil- 
dren go statedly to their beloved city to keep their 
feasts, and have happy fellowship with each other in 
the temple and upon the streets of their adored 
capital. They looked forward to these occasions with 
the fondest anticipations, and back to them with 
happy memories. When Jerusalem prospered they 
were happy, and when Jerusalem wais desolate they 



182 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

were burdened with the deepest grief. The esteem 
in which Jerusalem was held by the Jews is set forth 
by a Psalmist in the following expressive language: 
''If I forget thee, Jerusalem, let my right hand 
forget her cunning. Let my tongue cleave to the 
roof of my mouth, if I remember thee not; if I prefer 
not Jerusalem above my chief joy." When Nehemiah 
heard in the land of captivity of the sad estate of 
Jerusalem, he sat down and wept certain days, and 
fasted, and prayed to God in behalf of the wasted 
city of his fathers; and when he bore wine to Artax- 
erxes, the king noticed that his cupbearer was of 
a sad countenance, and demanded to know the cause 
of his sadness, and he received this reply: "Let the 
king live for ever: why should not my countenance 
be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers' 
sepulchres, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are con- 
sumed with fire?" The man's heart was crushed 
when he heard the sad story of Jerusalem's desolation, 
and he immediately began to take steps to repair 
the city and at least partially restore it to its former 
glory; and even Jesus, in view of the coming fate 
of the city, wept over it, thus lamenting the final 
catastrophe that was to overwhelm it. The Jews 
loved their city, and gloried in its excellence. 

But what was the old Jerusalem, even in the 
height of its splendor, in comparison with the new 
Jerusalem as described by John? I can think of no 
words that would add to the glory of the revelator's 
description of the metropolis of the new earth, the 
eternal home of the righteous. Look at its dimensions 
for a moment: Twelve thousand furlongs long, twelve 
thousand furlongs wide, and twelve thousand furlongs 
high. Reducing these measurements to miles, we have 



NEW HEAVENS AND NEW EARTH 183 

a city fifteen hundred miles long, fifteen hundred 
miles wide, and fifteen hundred miles high. Reduc- 
ing the city to one mile in height and extending it 
in length in proportion, we have a city fifteen hun- 
dred miles wide, and about long enough to belt the 
earth! And then the materials of which the city is 
composed! It embraces the most precious metals and 
jewels that we know anything about — gates of pearl, 
foundation af jasper, sapphire, chalcedony, emerald, 
sardonyx, sardius, chrysolite, beryl, topaz, chrysoprase, 
jacinth and amethyst, and walls of jasper, and streets 
of gold. What flight of imagination can go beyond 
this in picturing magnificence and splendor! Is this 
literal? Why may it not be? Is anything too hard 
for God to accomplish? Couldn't He who built this 
great universe build such a city as is here described? 
The city is said to have come down out of heaven 
from God, and this may either mean that it was built 
in heaven and handed down to earth in its completed 
form, or that it was conceived and planned in heaven 
by the great Architect, and built on earth according 
to His plans and specifications. If the language is 
to be taken as figurative, then it represents something 
superlatively grand and glorious — something perfect 
in every respect. 

I have intimated that the new earth will come 
up out of the ruins of the old one, which is to be 
destroyed by fire, and that it will come with condi- 
tions adapting it to a higher form of life than it had 
ever known before. Out of the ruins of its last 
destruction by water it came with an environment 
suiting it to the life of a being partly animal and 
partly spiritual; that is, man. Out of the ruins of its 
destruction by fire it is to come with conditions 



184 SEEMONS AND ADDKESSES 

adapting it to the life of a being wholly spiritual; 
that is, redeemed man with a body fashioned like the 
glorious body of the Son of God. To the development, 
elucidation and proof of this proposition I shall 
devote the remainder of this discourse. The Scrip- 
ture that I verily believe teaches these things is the 
following: "For I reckon that the suiferings of this 
present time are not worthy to be compared with the 
glory which shall be revealed to usward. For the 
earnest expectation of the creation waiteth for the 
revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was 
subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but by reason 
of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation 
itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of cor- 
ruption into the liberty of the glory of the children 
of God. For we know that the whole creation 
groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. 
And not only so, but ourselves also, who have the 
firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan 
within ourselves, waiting for our adoption, to wit, 
the redemption of our body. For in hope were we 
saved: but hope that is seen is not hope: for who 
hopeth for that which he seeth? But if we hope for 
that which we see not, then do we with patience wait 
for if (Rom. 8:18-25). This is another beautiful, 
significant and important passage of Scripture, and 
it is well worthy of patient and careful study. 

The pivotal word in this passage is the term 
"creation," and it is therefore necessary first of all 
to ascertain its meaning as here employed, for upon 
its import the significance of the whole passage 
depends. Let us first look at it from a negative point 
of view. It **was subjected to vanity, not of its own 
will." This shows that it does not include man, for 



NEW HEAVENS AND NEW EARTH 185 

while he was subjected to vanity, it was of his own 
will ; that is, he willingly did that on account of which 
he was subjected to vanity. For the same reason it 
does not include fallen angels, for they also willingly 
did that for which they were subjected to vanity, and 
hence it was of their own will. It does not include 
unf alien angels, for they were never subjected to 
vanity. For the same reason it does not include the 
heavenly bodies, because there is no evidence that they 
have ever been subjected to vanity. So far we feel 
that we have firm footing, and we can proceed with 
considerable confidence. After eliminating the things 
just mentioned, there is nothing left but the earth to 
correspond to ''the creation," and I verily believe 
that we are shut up to this conclusion, and my exegesis 
is founded upon this basis. This makes it necessary 
to regard the earth as personified in this passage, and 
presented as a sentient being with feelings and aspira- 
tions, and this figure of speech is by no means 
unknown to the sacred volume. The trees are repre- 
sented as going forth to anoint a king over them, and 
offering the crown to the olive-tree, the fig-tree, the 
vine and the bramble, in the order here mentioned, 
and they are all represented as peremptorily refusing 
to be king over the trees, except the bramble. Now, 
if the trees are thus personified in the Bible, and 
represented as endowed with human characteristics, 
no violence is done the passage at present under con- 
sideration in regarding the earth personified and like- 
wise thus endowed. 

When man sinned, and in so doing plunged into 
ruin, he carried his home, the earth, with him, and 
involved it in the same misfortune that befell him. 
And how often do we see similar results following in 



186 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

the wake of transgression. A man commits a crime, 
and thereby not only subjects himself personally to 
suffering and sorrow, but destroys his home as well. 
This fact finds illustration in drunkenness, murder, 
and many other evils that afflict the human race, and 
through which the innocent suffer with the guilty. A 
young man leads a loving, trusting, pure girl to the 
marriage altar, and there, in the presence of God and 
men, he pledges her his troth, assuming a most sacred 
obligation to love, cherish and protect her so long as 
they both do live. He installs her in a neat and 
comfortable cottage with ample furnishings, and with 
vines climbing and flowers blooming here and there 
about the premises. He has a beautiful and attractive 
home that is to him the dearest and sweetest spot 
on the footstool of the heavenly Father. Presently, 
the patter of little feet and the prattle of childish 
voices are heard in and about that home, and it is 
a fit type of heavenly bliss. A fond mother and lov- 
ing wife glides like a sylph about that home, keeping 
it as neat as a new pin, and the noise of children is 
music akin to that of the ^' choir invisible." When 
the husband and father returns from his daily toil, 
and enters that home, it is like a ship coming in from 
a stormy, billowy sea and entering a quiet, peaceful 
haven of rest. That home is *^a thing of beauty, and 
a joy for ever." 

But by and by the husband and father takes to 
drink, and in due course of time his face is red, his eyes 
bleared, his temper soured, his cash savings gone, and 
his reputation ruined. The cottage is going to wreck, 
the vines and flowers are neglected, the wife and 
mother wears a sad countenance and inferior clothes, 
the children are half clad and half starved, and there 



NEW HEAVENS AND NEW EARTH 187 

is evidence of ruin, desolation and sorrow on every 
hand. The man has brought ruin upon himself and 
his home, and turned what was once a blessed place 
of joy and happiness, peace and plenty, into a 
veritable hell! But now comes the Woman's Christian 
Temperance Union, and takes that man in hand, 
breaks the shackles with which the demon of intem- 
perance had bound him hand and foot, restores him 
to sobriety, industry and thrift, and soon the home 
begins to assume its aforetime appearance of happi- 
ness and plenty. The cottage smells of new paint, 
the vines and flowers trail and bloom again, the step 
of the wife and mother has its old-time spring, and 
her countenance has recovered its wreath of fasci- 
nating smiles, and the children have plenty to eat 
and wear, while the husband and father returns from 
his work with his wonted embraces and kisses. What 
a regeneration! The Temperance Union has redeemed 
the man and his home, and filled his life again with 
sunshine and bliss. Just so God in Christ proposes 
to redeem both man and his ruined home, and restore 
both to the condition they were in before the desola- 
tion came through sin. 

In harmony with this gracious program ''the crea- 
tion [the earth] itself also shall be delivered from 
the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory 
of the children of God/' When man sinned he 
brought upon himself and his home this penalty: 
''Cursed is the ground for thy sake; in toil shalt thou 
eat of it all the days of thy life; thorns also and 
thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt 
eat of the herb of the field; in the sweat of thy face 
shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; 
for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, andl 



188 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

unto dust shalt thou return'' (Gen. 3:17-19). Thus 
we see that everything that is objectionable and hurt- 
ful in this world came as the result of man's trans- 
gression of the law of God, and well might a poet 
mournfully sing with regard to the eating of the 
forbidden fruit: *' "Whose mortal taste brought death 
into the world, and all our woes." Let us scrutinize 
this burden of corruption somewhat closely. Here 
are thorns, briers, thistles, and all kinds of noxious 
weeds that disturb man's relation to the earth, and 
entail upon him much inconvenience and hardship, 
and wring from his brow sweat in showers. The 
earth (the creation) was subjected to vanity; that is, 
turned out of its normal course and perverted from 
its intended use, on account of the sin of man, but 
it was done in the hope that it would finally be recov- 
ered from this sad and preternatural condition. 

On account of the sin of man, the earth, which* 
was given him as a delightful home, was turned into 
a vast graveyard, for to man it was said: ''For out 
of it [the ground] wast thou taken: for dust thou 
art, and unto dust shalt thou return." What a 
burden of corruption this has bound upon the stooped 
shoulders of the earth (the creation), and it is no 
wonder that it is represented as groaning and trav- 
ailing in pain under this tremendous load. It has 
been estimated that if all the people who have lived 
and died from the death of Abel till the present time 
were to require burial at one time, the landed surface 
of the earth would have to be dug over three times, 
or they would have to be buried three deep ! What a 
vast charnel-house our earth is, and under this appal- 
ling burden of corruption its groaning is simply 
fearful! But it is patiently waiting in earnest expec- 



NEW HEAVENS AND NEW EARTH 189 

tation of **the revealing of the sons of God/' To 
reveal is to uncover, and the revealing of the sons of 
God seems to me to refer to their resurrection by 
which the earth (the creation) will be relieved of this 
tremendous burden of corruption, to which it is 
anxiously looking forward. ''And not only so, but 
ourselves also, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, 
even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for 
our adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body." 
This passage differentiates the ''we ourselves" from 
the "whole creation," showing that the redeemed are 
not included in that expression. The "whole crea- 
tion" and the "we ourselves" are joint participants 
in the groaning and travailing, and also in antici- 
pating the great and glorious resurrection of the dead 
whereby man's redemption will be completed, and the 
earth relieved of its "burden of corruption." Could 
anything more grand, glorious and sublime challenge 
our hope? To stand upon this sunlit mountain of 
faith and look forward to an event of such glory and 
splendor certainly fills the appreciative soul with 
unspeakable joy and gladness. 

But the redemption of the earth is not complete 
yet, for it has gotten rid of only a part of its "burden 
of corruption." It must pass through its regeneration 
by fire, and thus be relieved of the thorns and thistles 
and all other evil things that the sin of man brought 
upon it. "For the Lord himself shall descend from 
heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, 
and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ 
shall rise first: then we that are alive, that are left, 
shall together with them be caught up in the clouds 
to meet the Lord in the air." "Behold, I tell you a 
mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be 



190 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at 
the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the 
dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be 
changed." Simultaneously with the resurrection of 
those who sleep in Jesus, with bodies fashioned like 
the glorified body of the Son of God, the saints who 
will be found alive on the earth when the Lord 
comes, will be suddenly so changed as to have bodies 
of the same nature, and then all will be caught up 
together to meet the Lord in the air. What an oppor- 
tune time this will be for the conflagration of the 
earth to take place, and what a sight it will be for 
the redeemed who are poised in midair, to look down 
upon the fiery process! And when it is all over, and 
the earth emerges from its ruins purified and adorned 
as the eternal abiding-place of the ransomed children 
of God, they will descend to take possession of their 
glorious inheritance! The new Jerusalem now comes 
down out of heaven from God, and the tabernacle 
of God is with men, and He shall dwell with them, 
and be their God, and pain and tears and sorrow and 
mourning are gone forever. 

This is the new earth wherein dwelleth righteous- 
ness. The idea in this statement is that righteousness 
alone shall dwell in the new earth. Righteousness 
dwells in this old earth, but alongside of it dwells 
iniquity of every hue and type. Unrighteousness 
lives in the same country, in the same city, in the 
same street, and even in the same heart, with right- 
eousness, and casts its dark shadow across our path- 
way daily. A veritable carnival of wickedness is run- 
ning riot throughout the country at the present time, 
and you don't pick up a newspaper whose pages are 
not red with the blood of murder. The hand of the 



NEW HEAVENS AND NEW EARTH 191 

robber is in evidence on every hand, and bandits 
overrun the land. Bank robberies have become so 
common that they do not receive very much notice, 
and ordinary burglaries are innumerable. Unfaithful- 
ness in the marriage relation is a matter of common 
knowledge, and divorce courts are overcrowded with 
business. In addition to bank robberies, burglaries, 
and ordinary street hold-ups, we have that more 
general brand of thievery known as profiteering, which 
makes consumers pay two or three prices for what 
they are obliged to have. The present "high cost 
of living'* simply means that the hands of highway 
robbers are being thrust into the pockets of the people 
to filch therefrom money that they do not earn. 
This is a dark picture, but it is true to the facts, and 
it presents an object-lesson to those optimists who 
vociferously tell us that the world is getting better 
morally. If there has been a more godless age since 
Noah's flood, it has escaped the pen of the historian. 
But how different it will be in the new earth! 
No murders, no robberies, no cheating, no peniten- 
tiaries, no jails, no houses of correction, no electric 
chairs, no weeping eyes, no breaking hearts, no divorce 
courts, no unfaithfulness in any of the relations of 
life. Every man is every other man's brother, and 
God is the Father of all. Peace, harmony and good 
will prevail everywhere, and beautiful and sweet 
flowers bloom and emit their fragrance throughout 
the Paradise of God, and golden streets glitter in the 
midst of the city of our God. The days of tribula- 
tion are gone forever, and the eternal ages of joy 
and gladness have set in. Listen how they shout: 
"Hallelujah: for the Lord our God, the Almighty, 
reigneth. Let us rejoice and be exceeding glad, and 

13 



192 SEKMONS AND ADDRESSES 

let us give glory unto him: for the marriage of 
the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself 
ready. And it was given unto her that she should 
array herself in fine linen, bright and pure: for the 
fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints." Hear 
them as they continue their ascriptions of praise: 
**Unto him that sitteth on the throne, and unto the 
Lamb, be the blessing, and the honor, and the glory, 
and the dominion, for ever and ever. Worthy is the 
Lamb that hath been slain to receive the power, and 
riches, and wisdom, and might, and honor, and glory, 
and blessing." Richer and still richer, sweeter and 
still sweeter, become the strains of the heavenly music. 
Give ear while they sing the **song of Moses the ser- 
vant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great 
and marvellous are thy works, Lord God, the 
Almighty; righteous and true are thy ways, thou 
King of the ages. Who shall not fear, Lord, and 
glorify thy name? for thou only art holy; for all the 
nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy 
righteous acts have been made manifest." 

May God help us all to ''wash our robes, that we 
may have the right to come to the tree of life, and 
may enter in by the gates into the city." Amen. 



CHRISTIAN UNITY 
A SERMON 

Text. — ''Neither for these only do I pray, but for them 
also that believe on me through their word; that they may 
all be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, 
that they also may be in us: that the world may believe that 
thou didst send me. ' ' — .Tohn 17 : 21, 22. 

THAT the present divided condition of Christen- 
dom is out of harmony with Scripture teaching 
goes without the saying. The heresy of the Scriptures 
is division, and it is condemned in the word of God 
in no uncertain terms. Only once is heresy predicated 
of doctrine in the New Testament, and that is in 2 
Peter, where the apostle says: ''But there arose false 
prophets among the people, as among you also there 
shall be false teachers, who shall privily bring in 
destructive heresies, denying even the Master that 
bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruc- 
tion." This is a pretty severe characterization of 
false doctrine, and should make it odious to every 
lover of the truth. In other instances of the use of 
the word it means division, but division is intimately 
connected with heretical teaching, and usually grows 
out of it, and they are both condemned together. Paul 
pleads with the brethren in Corinth as follows: "Now 
I beseech you, brethren, through the name of our 
Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, 
and that there be no divisions among you; but that 
ye be perfected together in the same mind and in the 

193 



194 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

same judgment'* (1 Cor. 1:10). This pathetic appeal 
is as applicable to the church universal to-day as it 
was to the Corinthian church in the apostolic age. 
Let it be noted that speaking different and contrary 
things produced the divisions among the Corinthians 
that Paul laments and censures, and this should 
admonish religious teachers to be sure that they always 
speak according to the Oracles of God. 

Paul gives divisions a very dark setting in the 
following language: ''Now the works of the flesh are 
manifest, which are these: Fornication, uncleanness, 
lasciviousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jeal- 
ousies, wraths, factions, divisions, parties, envyings, 
drunkenness, revellings, and such like; of which I 
forewarn you, even as I did forewarn you, that they 
who practice such things shall not inherit the king- 
dom of God'' (Gal. 5:19-21). This indictment should 
give all the professed followers of the Lamb of God 
pause, and cause them to reflect seriously as to the 
location of the responsibility for the divisions that 
exist in the so-called Christian world at the present 
time. Somebody is responsible for these divisions, 
and whoever is responsible for them is guilty of 
grievous sin in the presence of God, and Paul says 
that such ''shall not inherit the kingdom of God." 
It is perfectly obvious that whoever belongs to a sect, 
party or division in the church (I use this term in 
its common acceptation) encourages and promotes 
division, and therefore classifies himself with those 
upon whom the apostolic censure falls. Does some 
one say that this is a very broad and sweeping 
allegation? Be it so. We should be candid with 
ourselves and the truth, and look Scripture teaching 
fully in the face, and immediately proceed to square our 



CHRISTIAN UNITY 195 

conduct accordingly. This is a question that involves 
not only our eternal destiny, but also the conversion 
of the world to the Lord Jesus Christ. The text 
clearly implies that a divided church will never bring 
the unsaved world to the Redeemer, and considera- 
tions personal and general should admonish Christian 
people to be in haste to tear down the middle walls 
of partition that have been built up among them, so 
that they may come together in one flock under one 
Shepherd. 

More than a century ago pious and godly men 
began to discern that prevailing conditions in the 
religious world were unscriptural, antiscriptural, and 
were a tremendous obstacle to the progress of the 
kingdom of God; and, seeing the sinfulness of the 
divisions that crippled the church, various individuals 
in different parts of the world began to consider the 
question of the unity of the people of God, and to 
cast about in their minds for some feasible and 
Scriptural plan by which such a desirable and essen- 
tial result might be brought to pass. Very naturally 
and logically they betook themselves in this quest to 
the word of God, and accepted that as the polar star 
to guide them to the desired haven. That was to 
start right, and in such an undertaking it was very 
important to get a right start. In their thinking the 
following principle was evolved: "Where the Scrip- 
tures speak, we speak; where the Scriptures are silent, 
we are silent.'' This splendid and sane motto was 
to guide them in all matters pertaining to faith and 
ordinances, but had no application to ways and means 
of carrying on the affairs of the kingdom of God. 
These were regarded as matters of expediency to be 
controlled by sanctified common sense, and were not 



196 SEKMONS AND ADDRESSES 

to be classified among the fundamentals that require a 
''Thus saith the Lord'* either in express terms or by 
divinely approved precedent. This distinction is a very 
vital one, and is to be observed with care and fidelity. 
Among the things that demanded first and careful 
consideration was the matter of a catholic creed that 
all disciples of Christ could accept, and that all 
desiring the fellowship of God's people could con- 
scientiously subscribe to. Every religious organization 
based upon matters of faith must necessarily be based 
upon a creed that will secure the co-operation and 
hearty fellowship of all its members. Every one who 
believes anything has a creed, and what he believes 
is his creed. In a matter in which a great many 
people are interested, the narrower a creed is, the 
better, for the narrower it is, the more people can 
stand on it. I am now using the term ''creed" in 
its technical sense, to indicate those things that one 
must believe in order to have fellowship with the 
people that are organized upon it and are bound 
together by it, and beside which no one can be 
required to believe anything else. Here it became 
necessary to distinguish between faith and opinion, 
and the men who launched the Restoration movement 
clearly and sharply drew the distinction, and enun- 
ciated that in the sphere of opinion there must be 
absolute and unlimited liberty, with the proviso that 
opinions must be held by individuals as private prop- 
erty, and not inculcated or foisted upon others. The 
observance of this principle is absolutely essential to 
unity and harmony among the people of God, and || 
whenever it is set aside and individuals begin to 
exploit their opinions, friction and contention are 
sure to arise. ] 



CHRISTIAN UNITY 197 

In looking for such a creed as all could accept, 
all man-made creeds and confessions of faith were 
weighed in the balance of sound reason, found want- 
ing, and laid aside on the ground that no one of 
them could harmonize all the interests that were 
involved. The searchers were providentially, as I 
verily believe, directed to the following passage of 
Scripture: "Now when Jesus came into the parts of 
Cffisarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Who 
do men say that the Son of man is? And they said. 
Some say John the Baptist; some, Elijah; and others, 
Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. He saith unto 
them, But who say ye that I am? And Simon Peter 
answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of 
the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto 
him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah: for flesh 
and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my 
Father who is in heaven. And I also say unto thee, 
that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build 
my church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail 
against it" (Matt. 16:13-18). Eureka! They had 
found the object of their search; namely, the founda- 
tion or creed of the church of Jesus Christ — that 
upon which the Lord said He would build His church. 
The great truth that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of 
the living God, with its corollaries, which are that 
He died for our sins according to the Scriptures, was 
buried, and was raised from the dead the third day 
according to the Scriptures, is the creed of the church 
of Christ, that every one who desires membership in 
that church must accept; and beyond that, so far as 
matters of faith are concerned, no one can properly 
be required to go; and whoever makes this confession 
of faith is prepared to enter the church of Christ 



198 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

and have fellowsMp therein. I do not know what 
brethren mean when they sometimes say, ''Christ is 
our creed," for Christ is not a creed at all; He is a 
person, and a creed is something that one believes. 
The creed of the church is something that we believe 
about Christ, and that something is that He is the 
Son of the living God. The rest of the New Testa- 
ment is our book of discipline, and both of these every 
Christian under the heavens can and does accept. 
Thus the question of creed was settled. 

The Scriptural creed of the church having been 
discovered, it became necessary to settle upon a name 
for the institution. This question led to the evolution 
of the idea that Scriptural things should be called 
by Scriptural names, and this made it necessary to 
discard all human names for this divine institution, 
and hence all such names were thrown overboard with 
human creeds. They were making progress, but prog- 
ress at great cost, for such creeds and names were 
held in high esteem, and even veneration, by many 
most excellent people. But the die was cast, and 
those earnest men who were seeking a reasonable and 
Scriptural basis of unity had nothing to do but fol- 
low the principles that they had adopted to their 
logical conclusions. The church of Christ is a divine 
thing, and it must have a divine name, and no name 
is a divine name unless it is divinely approved in the 
sacred Scriptures. From an examination of the word 
of God it was discovered that this divine institution 
is therein called the church of God, the church of the 
Firstborn, while the local congregations are called 
churches of Christ. Speaking of the church at large, 
the Saviour says, ''On this rock I will build my 
church," which makes it the church of Christ, or its 



CHRISTIAN UNITY 199 

equivalent, the Christian church. On these names 
all Christian people can unite, so as to form one 
church under one Head and one creed, and thus get 
rid of that divisive thing called denominationalism, 
and heal the breaches that have been made in the 
kingdom of God. This is a reasonable and Scriptural 
solution of the question of names for the New Testa- 
ment church. 

Next comes the problem of names for individual 
followers of Christ, and here as elsewhere recourse 
must be had to the Scriptures for information and 
guidance. An examination of the Oracles of God 
shows that God's children are therein designated as 
disciples, saints, brethren, Christians, etc., and hence 
any or all of these names are Scriptural and may 
properly be used to designate the followers of the 
Lamb. All human names for church and individual 
Christians are divisive and should be abandoned. 
As there is some disagreement as to the origin of the 
name *' Christian" as applied to individual disciples 
of Christ, I deem it expedient to examine that ques- 
tion with considerable care, and it is proper and 
logical to begin with the following Scripture: ''And 
it came to pass, that even for a whole year they 
[Paul and Barnabas] were gathered together with the 
church, and taught much people; and that the disci- 
ples were called Christians first in Antioch" (Acts 
11:26). Many scholars and expositors hold that the 
name ''Christians" was bestowed upon the disciples 
in Antioch by the enemies of Christianity by way of 
reproach; but that this is erroneous I am perfectly 
satisfied. These sermons are intended for the general 
reader, and hence I do not like to resort to Greek 
criticism, and I have refrained from doing so almost 



200 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

entirely; but in this instance it is absolutely neces- 
sary, in order to bring out the meaning of the 
passage whose import is quite obvious, as it seems to 
me, in the original. In the Greek the passage runs 
thus: Egeneto de autois kai eniauton Jiolon sunach- 
tJieenai en tee ekklesia kai didaxai ocMon Jiikanon, 
chreematisai te prootoos en AntiocJieia tous matJieetas 
Christianous. I quote the passage as pointed by 
Westcott and Hort, whose text is the standard at the 
present time. This text puts a comma after liikanon, 
where the Revised Version puts a semicolon. No 
punctuation whatever is demanded. The following is 
a literal translation of the Greek: ''And it happened 
to them to be gathered together even for a whole year 
in the church and to teach much people and to call 
the disciples Christians first in Antioch." We have 
here three verbs — all in the infinitive and all telling 
what Paul and Barnabas did. The word for ''call'' 
is in the active voice, and should be so rendered in 
English, and would be so rendered but for a com- 
pelling theory. All three of these verbs are connected 
back with the pronoun autois (them), and depend 
upon it for their construction, and there is no demand 
for the abrupt severance that the common translation 
makes. Just why the writer should suddenly break 
off from telling what Paul and Barnabas did, and in 
the same sentence bring in what some pagans were 
doing in derision, is not apparent, and that he did it 
is an unjustifiable assumption. 

Moreover: Both matJieetas (disciples) and Chris- 
tianous (Christians) come after the verb chreematisai 
in the record, thus showing that they are both objects 
of the verb, whereas if one of them had been intended 
to be taken as the subject it would have been placed 



CHEISTIAN UNITY 201 

before the verb. Furthermore: The particle that con- 
nects chreetnatisai, etc., with the preceding part of 
the statement is te, and the function of this particle 
is given by Thayer in his ''Greek-English Lexicon" 
as follows: '^Kai introduces- something new under the 
same aspect yet as an external addition, whereas te 
marks it as having an inner connection with what 
precedes." There is absolutely no "inner connec- 
tion" between what Paul and Barnabas were doing, ^ 
and what it is alleged that pagans were doing. 
Indeed, there is no connection of any sort between 
being assembled in the church and teaching much 
people on the part of Paul and Barnabas, and the 
calling the disciples Christians on the part of pagans. 
The statement that the ''disciples were called Chris- 
tians first in Antioch" implies that they were after- 
wards called Christians in other places, and that they 
were called Christians in other places by the same 
parties that called them Christians in Antioch. Did 
pagans make it their business to follow Paul and 
Barnabas around and call the disciples that they 
made. Christians? No, these preachers called the 
disciples Christians first in Antioch, and afterwards 
did the same thing elsewhere. 

In addition to all this, chreematisoo, as used in the 
New Testament, has a natural affinity for divine 
things, and indicates that whatever it signifies was 
done by divine authority. This statement is supported 
by the following definition as given by Thayer: 'To he 
the mouthpiece of divine revelations, to promulge the 
commands of God.'' With this agrees the definition of 
Liddell and Scott, as follows: *'In N. T. of divine warn- 
ings or revelations.'' These definitions are sustained by 
the following passages of Scripture: "And being warned 



202 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

of God in a dream that they should not return to 
Herod, they departed into their own country another 
way." ^' Being warned of God" is the translation of 
one word, the participle chreematisthentes. **And 
when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over 
Judaea in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid 
to go thither; and being warned of God in a dream, 
he withdrew into the parts of Galilee, and came and 
dwelt in a city called Nazareth." Here, as in the 
former passage, ''being warned of God" translates the 
participle cJireematistJieis. ''And they said, Cornelius 
a centurion, a righteous man and one that feareth 
God, and well reported of by all the nation of the Jews, 
was warned of God by a holy angel to send for thee 
into his house." In this passage "was warned of 
God" translates the verb chreematisthee. These quo- 
tations are sufficient to show that the word under 
consideration, as employed in the New Testament, car- 
ries with it the idea of divine instruction or authority, 
and hence the conclusion that the disciples were called 
Christians in Antioch by divine authority, and this 
ought to settle the question as to what name the 
disciples of Christ should wear, and it adds force and 
emphasis to this Scripture: "But if any man suffer 
as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him 
glorify God in this name" (1 Pet. 4:16, R. V.). 
Disciples of Christ can not glorify God in any human 
name that they may wear, and hence they should 
discard all such names, and wear the name that honors 
Christ and glorifies God. 

The question of baptism comes next. The men who 
were searching for a proper basis for Christian unity 
knew very well that a united church could not be 
founded upon a divided baptism, and that a baptism 



CHRISTIAN UNITY 203 

must be found and accepted that all Christians would 
recognize as valid and Scriptural. In his letter to 
the Ephesians Paul speaks of baptism as a unit, in 
the following striking passage: "Giving all diligence 
to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 
There is one body, and one Spirit, even as also ye 
were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one 
faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who 
is over all, and through all, and in all." The unity 
of baptism is as strongly emphasized here as the unity 
of God, or the unity of the Lord, or the unity of the 
Spirit, or the unity of the body (the church), or the 
unity of faith, or the unity of hope. There can not 
be more than one, baptism, any more than there can 
be more than one God, or one Lord, or one Spirit, or 
one body, or one faith, or one hope. The problem is 
to find one baptism that all can accept and unite 
upon, and that problem was solved when immersion 
was hit upon, for all agree that when a proper sub- 
ject is immersed he is baptized. Immersion, then, is 
common ground, and nothing else is, and hence immer- 
sion as the one baptism must be a part of the 
foundation for the one body or church to rest upon. 
Sprinkling, pouring and immersion are three different 
things, and if one of them is baptism, the other two 
are not. This appears to be axiomatic, and it should 
settle the whole question. 

But, in addition to this, it is the almost unanimous 
verdict of scholarship that when the New Testament 
was written the Greek word haptizo, which the Saviour 
used to indicate the act of baptism, meant to immerse, 
and did not mean either to sprinkle or pour. In this 
there is nearly perfect agreement among Greek lex- 
icons and Greek scholars generally. Liddell and Scott's 



204 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

first definition of haptizo is, **To dip in or under water.'* 
Cremer's "Biblico-Theological Lexicon of New Testa- 
ment Greek" gives this definition: ''Baptizo, to 
immerse, to submerge.^* Thayer's ** Greek-English 
Lexicon of the New Testament" defines thus: *'To 
dip repeatedly, to immerge, to submerge/' E. A. 
Sophocles, in his ''Greek Lexicon of the Roman and 
Byzantine Periods," defines as follows: 'To dip, to 
immerse, to sink.'' This author appends the following 
note to his definition: ''There is no evidence that 
Luke and Paul and the other writers of the New 
Testament put upon this verb meanings not recognized 
by the Greeks." Sophocles was a native of Greece, 
and occupied the professorship of the Greek language 
in Harvard University for many years, and was per- 
fectly at home in the Greek tongue. These four 
lexicons occupy leading positions in the front rank 
of Greek lexicography, and their testimony is decisive. 
But do not some Greek lexicons give "sprinkle" and 
"pour" as meanings of baptizo? I will permit men 
of wide reputation and acknowledged scholarship to 
answer this question: In response to a note of inquiry 
on the subject. Prof. M. W. Humphreys, then of 
Vanderbilt University, said: "There is no standard 
Greek-English lexicon that gives 'sprinkle' or 'pour' 
as meanings of baptizo." Replying to the same note, 
Prof. W. S. Tyler, of Amherst College, said: "I do 
not know of any good lexicon which gives 'sprinkle' 
as a rendering for baptizo." Professor Tyler alludes 
to the fact that Liddell and Scott, in their first 
edition, give "to pour upon" as a meaning of the 
word, the whole truth concerning which is stated by 
Prof. J. B. Foster, of Colby University, as follows: 
"Liddell and Scott, in their first edition, gave as one 



CHRISTIAN UNITY 205 

of the meanings of the word haptizo, to pour upon, 
but corrected it in the second edition, and the correc- 
tion stands in the latest (sixth) edition/' Replying 
to a similar question, Professor D'Ooge, of Colby 
University, and Professor Flagg, of Cornell University, 
gave the following answers: "There is no standard 
Greek-English lexicon that gives either 'sprinkle' or 
'pour' as one of the meanings of the Greek verb haptizo/* 
"I know of no lexicon which gives the meanings you 
speak of for haptizo, not even the lexicon of the Ro- 
man and Byzantine periods of Prof. E. A. Sophocles." 
In view of the fact that immersion is common 
ground upon which all can conscientiously stand, and 
of the further fact that immersion has the unanimous 
support of the lexicons, and of the additional fact 
that the circumstances attending the administration of 
the ordinance as given in the New Testament favor im- 
mersion, it does seem that this question should not 
stand as a "middle wall of partition" between those 
who love the Lord and desire the fulfillment of His 
prayer that His people might be one. Let us glance for 
a moment at the circumstances just alluded to. The 
ordinance was administered where there was "much 
water," and in the "river Jordan"; the people "went 
down into the water" to be baptized, and "came up out 
of the water" after baptism, and in baptism they were 
buried with Christ, and raised up again; men and 
women left their homes and went to the water to be 
baptized. These circumstances are without meaning 
except in the light of the idea that the ordinance 
appointed by our blessed Lord requires immersion, 
but in such light they are full of meaning, and ought 
to have great weight with those who want to know 
what the will of the Master is, that they may comply 



206 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

with it. These considerations, in connection with 
others, enabled those who inaugurated the union move- 
ment of the nineteenth century to discern the safe 
and Scriptural ground as to the action of baptism, 
and they were heroic enough to take their stand upon 
that ground and offer it to the religious world as 
presenting a happy solution of the baptismal problem 
as to what is commonly, though improperly, called its 
''mode." 

In the next place, the question of the proper sub- 
jects of baptism presents itself for consideration, and 
here, too, it is easy to find common ground. That 
the baptism of a penitent believer is Scriptural is 
denied by no one, for it is clearly taught in the New 
Testament, both by precept and example. "He that 
believeth and is baptized shall be saved;" ''Repent 
ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name 
of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins;" 
"When they believed Philip preaching the things con- 
cerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus 
Christ, they were baptized, both men and women;" 
"Many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed, and 
were baptized;" "Here is water, what doth hinder 
me to be baptized? If thou believest with all thy 
heart, thou mayest." These are some of the passages 
that show that faith, repentance and baptism are 
inseparably linked together in the New Testament, 
and the inevitable inference is that in the absence of 
faith and repentance there can be no baptism. And 
in addition to this, the word of God declares that 
baptism is "the interrogation of a good conscience 
toward God" (1 Pet. 3:21, R. V.), and this is 
impossible with an infant. Of course there can be 
no unity upon a basis which includes anything so 



CHRISTIAN UNITY 207 

entirely unscriptural and antiscriptural as infant bap- 
tism, and however venerable the practice may be, and 
however dear it may be to the hearts of many excel- 
lent people, it will have to be given up before the 
people of God can get together in a Scriptural and 
permanent union. 

In an article in the Christian Union Quarterly for 
October, 1920, its author, Prof. W. H. Griffith Thomas, 
of Wycliffe College, Toronto, Canada, an Episcopal 
institution, emphasizes the importance of respecting 
the silence of the Scriptures with regard to religious 
institutions, in a very striking manner. He is oppos- 
ing special orders of priesthood in the church, and 
in so doing he uses the following significant language: 
*^This silence is a simple fact. There are twenty- 
seven books, and not a single reference can be found 
to a special human priesthood. But this conveys only 
a little of the strength of the evidence. The New 
Testament is not so much a volume as a library, and its 
evidence consists of several independent parts, and has a 
cumulative force. Let us take seven of these representa- 
tive and distinctive parts and notice the result: (a) 
There are the instructions of our Lord to His disciples 
and apostles in the four Gospels, but not a word 
about a special priesthood. (&) There is the first book 
of general church history, the Acts of the Apostles, 
but not a hint of such a priesthood, (c) There is 
the first detailed picture of one particular apostolic 
church in the Epistles to the Corinthians, but not a 
sign of any such priesthood, (d) There are the two 
great doctrinal Epistles for Gentile Christians, Romans 
and Ephesians, but no instruction whatever as to such 
a priesthood, (e) There is the great doctrinal Epistle 
for Jewish Christians, Hebrews, but nothing in it 

14 



208 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

except our Lord's priesthood. (/) There are the three 
Epistles of pastoral and ecclesiastical instruction, 1 
and 2 Timothy and Titus, but not a word of any 
special priesthood, (g) There are the mature writings 
of the two great apostles of the circumcision, St. Peter 
and St. John, but no trace whatever of this priesthood. 
This evidence taken separately in its parts is striking, 
but taken as a whole it is cumulative and absolutely 
overwhelming." The necessary changes being made, 
this reasoning will apply to infant baptism with as 
much force as to the priesthood. Here it is: ^^TJiis 
silence is a simple fact. There are twenty-seven books, 
and not a single reference can be found to infant 
baptism. But this conveys only a little of the strength 
of the evidence. The New Testament is not so much 
a volume as a library, and its evidence consists of 
several independent parts, and has a cumulative force. 
Let us take seven of these representative and distinc- 
tive parts and notice the result, (a) There are the 
instructions of our Lord to His disciples in the four 
Gospels, but not a word about infant baptism. (&) 
There is the first book of general church history, the 
Acts of the Apostles, but not a hint of infant baptism, 
(c) There is the first detailed picture of one partic- 
ular apostolic church in the Epistles to the Corin- 
thians, but not a sign of any such baptism, (d) 
There are the two great doctrinal Epistles for Gentile 
Christians, Romans and Ephesians, but no instruction 
whatever as to such baptism, (e) There is the great 
doctrinal Epistle for Jewish Christians, Hebrews, but 
nothing in it about infant baptism. (/) There are 
the three Epistles of pastoral and ecclesiastical instruc- 
tions, 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus, but not a word of 
infant baptism, {g) There are the mature writings 



CHRISTIAN UNITY 209 

of the two great apostles of the circumcision, St. Peter 
and St. John, but no trace whatever of this baptism. 
This evidence taken separately in its parts is striking, 
but taken as a whole it is cumulative and absolutely 
overwhelming.'^ Infant baptism can no more stand 
before this argument than a special priesthood. They 
are both unscriptural, and must be abandoned before 
Christian union can come about. 

People in whose hearts a real desire for unity 
among the followers of Christ burns must and will 
consent to lay aside every unscriptural doctrine and 
practice that tends to divide the church into opposing 
factions, and teach and practice such things, and only 
such things, as are plainly exhibited in the New Tes- 
tament, so far as church ordinances are concerned, 
and maintain silence concerning things about which 
the Scriptures are silent. Why should not Christian 
people who love the Lord, and desire the fulfillment 
of His prayer for union, do this? The doctrines and 
traditions of men have always been in the way of the 
progress of the gospel and the advancement of the 
Redeemer's kingdom, and they should be laid aside 
that the truth as it is in Christ Jesus may have free 
course to run and be glorified. When Jesus was born 
in Bethlehem of Judea, angels celebrated the glorious 
event by singing: ''Glory to God in the highest, and 
on earth peace among men in whom he is weU 
pleased." Would not those same angels delight to 
renew their song of praise to celebrate the coming 
together in one body of the divided army of the Lord, 
and the consequent conversion of the world to Christ? 
No doubt they are as anxious to do this as they were 
to announce to shepherds the birth of Him who was 
to ''destroy him that has the power of death, and 



210 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

deliver them who through the fear of death were all 
their lifetime subject to bondage." Why should un- 
taught questions be permitted to stand in the way 
of, and delay, such a glorious consummation of the 
gracious purpose of God with respect to the salvation 
of the world? Are the ordinances and commandments 
of men more precious than lost souls? Can it be 
possible that Christians are willing to continue to look 
upon the torn and bleeding body of the Son of God, 
rather than give up things that have no sanction in 
the inspired Word of truth? 

There is one other feature of baptism that deserves 
some notice in this discussion, and while it does not 
bear the same relation to the question of unity that 
the questions already considered do, yet oneness of 
view with respect to it will be promotive of that gen- 
eral unity which bulks large in the thought of Chris- 
tendom at the present time. The design or purpose 
of baptism in the economy of grace is of considerable 
moment in the matter of seeking a basis of unity upon 
which all Christians can have fellowship together. 
On this question the Scriptures, as it seems to me, 
speak very plainly and positively, leaving little room 
for diversity of opinion. It will not be necessary to 
examine more than one passage of Scripture with 
respect to the design of baptism. The first time the 
gospel was ever fully preached it pierced the hearts 
of many people, convicting them of sin, and they 
cried out, *' Brethren, what shall we do?" To this 
vital question the apostle Peter made answer as fol- 
lows: ** Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you 
in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of 
your sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy 
Spirit." That those inquirers were told to repent, 



CHRISTIAN UNITY 211 

and be baptized in order that they might receive the 
remission of their sins, is perfectly obvious. The mes- 
sage may be analyzed as follows: ''Repent ye, and 
be baptized." How many of us? ''Every one of 
you." In what name? "In the name of Jesus 
Christ." For what purpose? "Unto the remission of 
your sins." This presents the teaching of the passage 
in a clear and strong light, so that there should be no 
misunderstanding about it. And if God has appointed 
baptism as a condition of pardon, along with other 
things, why should any mortal object to it? Sinners 
should rejoice in any provision for the pardon of sin 
that the wisdom and goodness of God might dictate, 
and gratefully comply therewith, and count it a holy 
and heavenly privilege. The Jews were willing to be 
saved, but they were not willing to be saved in God's 
way of saving men. They wanted to dictate the terms 
of their own salvation, and thereby made an egregious 
blunder, as is always the case when men seek to sub- 
stitute their own wisdom for the wisdom of God. 
The Scriptures clearly teach that to penitent believers 
baptism is in order to the remission of their alien 
sins. For a fuller discussion of this point I refer you 
to the sermon on "What must I do to be saved?" 
But I have said that unity of faith on this subject 
is not essential to the unity of the people of God. 
If a penitent believer submits to baptism because God 
has ordained it, and because he loves Jesus and wants 
to honor Him, God will take care of the design of the 
ordinance, and a mistake on the part of the subject 
will neither vitiate the institution nor nullify its 
design. If God establishes an ordinance with a specific 
design in view, and a man obeys that ordinance 
because he wants to honor and obey God, although 



212 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

he may not understand its design, he will receive the 
blessing that God connected with obedience to His 
will. The profoundest problem involved in the gospel 
of Jesus Christ is the atonement for sin made through 
His death, and no man fully understands it, but the 
humblest member of the human family may avail 
himself of its gracious benefits. God may as well 
have made no atonement for sin as to require that 
men shall understand all about the profound mysteries 
that are involved in it, before they can accept and 
enjoy its benefits. The Lord has appointed baptism 
as a condition of pardon to a proper subject, and 
when such a subject submits to it God will see to 
it that he gets the blessing. But at the same time 
men should strive to learn as much as possible about 
it from the Scriptures of divine truth, and the more 
they thus learn about it, the more they will appreciate 
and enjoy it. However, a misunderstanding in regard 
to it need not stand in the way of the unity of God's 
people. 

Summary. 

According to the teaching of the word of God, 
division among disciples of Christ is sinful. This 
necessarily gives rise to the inference that any one 
who prpmotes or encourages division is guilty of sin 
before God. All human creeds and confessions of 
faith, being essentially divisive, must be discarded, 
and the unifying and inspired creed of the New 
Testament adopted as an all-sufficient rule of faith 
and practice, and an ample bond of union and fellow- 
ship among Christian people. All human names to 
designate churches and disciples of Christ, being 
middle walls of partition between God's children, must 



CHRISTIAN UNITY 213 

be abandoned, and such names as are approved in the 
Scriptures accepted. Immersion, being universally- 
recognized as valid baptism, must be universally 
adopted as the practice of the church, and all forms 
of affusion, being human inventions, must give place 
to the one baptism of the New Testament. Infant 
baptism, being unauthorized by the word of God, must 
be abandoned, that the baptism of penitent believers 
may have undisputed sway. All types of ecclesias- 
ticism must be relinquished in favor of the autonomy 
of the local churches, which is so conspicuous in the 
New Testament order of things. If ever Christian 
unity comes about, it will have to be upon a basis 
substantially identical with that thus outlined. 



THE TRANSFIGURATION 
OF CHRIST 

A SERMON 

Text. — '* Verily I say unto you, There are some of them 
that stand here, who shall in no wise taste of death, till they 
see the Son of man coming in his kingdom." — Matt. 16: 28. 

ONE of the interesting and significant features of 
the New Testament is the way in which it is 
put together. It is manifestly constructed with refer- 
ence to its own elucidation, and the best commentary 
on that Dook is the book itself. I sometimes say 
that I wish I had known fifty years ago the difference 
between studying the Bible, and studying books about 
the Bible, as I think I know it now. I am quite sure 
that such knowledge would have led me to a better 
understanding of that blessed book than I now have. 
Books about the Bible are not to be despised, but the 
student should always remember that his main reliance 
for a correct understanding of the Bible is the Book 
itself. That should be the text-book, and all other 
books should be used as mere helps. And here lies 
a danger, with respect to helps, that should be guarded 
against. The danger is that of making the helps 
the main thing, and retiring the Bible to the back- 
ground. In studying a Biblical subject the Bible 
should be consulted and carefully studied first, and 
let the helps come in afterwards to supplement the 
knowledge gained by an independent examination of 
the Sacred Oracles. 

214 



TRANSFIGURATION OF CHRIST 215 

The New Testament is constructed upon the same 
principle that underlies the composition of an arith- 
metic. In making this mathematical book the author's 
first aim is to acquaint the student with the numerical 
symbols, 1, 2, 3, etc., that he may understand their 
value both singly and in combination, and no progress 
can be made in this science till this lesson is mastered. 
The next thing that the author does is to lay down a 
rule under which these numerals are to be applied in 
the solution of mathematical problems. Then come 
some examples wrought out by the author himself, so 
that if the student should fail to understand the rule 
in the abstract, he has it concreted and illustrated in 
the examples that are before him. The wisdom and 
absolute necessity of this course are perfectly manifest, 
and in no other way can a student become proficient 
in arithmetic. Christianity, as well as arithmetic and 
every other branch of human knowledge, has its 
elementary or underlying principles, and they come 
first in the study of the science of human redemption, 
and this fact is recognized in the construction of the 
New Testament. The fundamental fact upon which 
the Christian religion rests is the imperishable truth 
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and upon opening 
the New Testament the student first encounters four 
brief historical sketches of the life and work of our 
divine Lord when He was on earth. The purpose of 
these writings is to lay a foundation deep, broad and 
strong for intelligent faith in Him as the **only 
begotten Son of God." 

This marvelous proposition finds perfect proof in 
the miracles the Saviour performed, the crowning one 
being His own resurrection from the grave. Toward 
the close of his testimony John says: ''Many other 



216 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

signs therefore did Jesus in the presence of the disci- 
ples, which are not written in this book: bnt these 
are written, that ye may believe that Jesus is the 
Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye may 
have life in his name" (John 20:30); and Paul 
affirms that Jesus "was declared to be the Son of 
God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, 
by the resurrection from the dead" (Rom. 1:4). The 
proposition, being superhuman and divine, can only 
be established by divine and superhuman evidence, and 
such evidence we have in the miracles that are recorded 
in the New Testament. The evidential value of the 
miracles wrought by our Saviour, and put upon record 
in the sacred Scriptures, can not be overestimated. 
They were recorded for the same purpose for which 
they were performed, and, if they had not been put 
upon record, and thus preserved for all time, faith 
in Jesus as the Son of God would have faded from 
the minds of men. 

As in the case of the arithmetic, the establishment 
of this fundamental fact of the gospel is followed by 
a rule that is to apply in the solution of the problem 
of salvation from sin — the most stupendous problem 
with which men have to deal. That rule was given by 
the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and is sanctioned and 
supported by all authority in heaven and on earth. 
Shortly before our Master was received up into glory He 
said to His apostles: ''Go ye into all the world, and 
preach the gospel to the whole creation. He that believ- 
eth and is baptized shall be saved ; but he that disbeliev- 
eth shall be condemned" (Mark 16:16). This is the 
rule by which men and women are to be saved under the 
gracious gospel of the Son of God, and sinners should 
reioice in the privilege thus extended to them. If 



TRANSFIGURATION OF CHRIST 217 

there are any exceptions, God will take care of them. 
We have to do with rules and not exceptions. Follow- 
ing this rule, as in the case of the arithmetic, we find 
a list of examples of conversion and salvation in the 
Book of Acts — examples wrought out under the 
guidance of the Holy Spirit, so that, in addition to 
the abstract statement of the principle in the rule, 
we have it in the concrete in these examples, and we 
can thus see just how it is done. Then come some 
epistolary writings to teach the saved how to live the 
Christian life. What wonderful wisdom is displayed 
in this arrangement! 

And not only are the individual books of the New 
Testament put together with reference to their own 
elucidation, but each book is constructed upon the 
same principle. A fine example of this is found in 
the third chapter of John, which records a conversa- 
tion that took place one night in Jerusalem between 
Christ and Nicodemus. The preceding chapter closes 
with the following language: ''But Jesus did not trust 
himself unto them, for that he knew all men, and 
because he needed not that any one should bear wit- 
ness concerning man; for he knew what was in man." 
This wonderful statement is immediately followed by 
the conversation between the Lord and this ruler of 
the Jews, and no doubt it was recorded in this par- 
ticular connection to illustrate and emphasize the great 
fact that Jesus knows what is in man without being 
told. Nicodemus approached the Master in a very 
patronizing way by saying: "Rabbi, we know that 
thou art a teacher come from God; for no one can 
do these signs that thou doest, except God be with 
him." The Teacher made the following reply: 
''Verily, verily, I say unto thee. Except one be bom 



218 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

anew, lie cannot see the kingdom of God." There is 
absolutely no logical connection between the speech 
of Nicodemus and the reply of Jesus. There is noth- 
ing in the former to suggest the latter. But Jesus 
knew what was in the mind of this Jewish ruler, and 
He replied to that, and not to the words of his lips. 
Nicodemus had the idea that was common to the Jews 
concerning the Messianic Idngdom — ^that the Messiah 
would set up a kingdom in this world and occupy its 
throne Himself just as David had done. He had the 
further mistaken notion that in this kingdom the Jews 
would at least be God's favorite people, and that he 
as a Jew would have the right to entrance into that 
kingdom on account of his Jewish birth. The Saviour 
meant to put the ax to the tap-root of that worldly 
tree that had grown up in the Jewish mind and was 
dominating the thought of Nicodemus. In effect He 
said; *' Nicodemus, don't you come knocking at the 
door of my kingdom with the idea that your Jewish 
birth will secure admission for you. So far from it, 
you have to be born anew." A better proof and 
illustration of the fact that Jesus ''knew what was in 
man" could not be found than this. 

And this brings me to the main topic of this 
discourse — the transfiguration of Christ — and I cite 
Matthew's account of that remarkable transaction: 
"And after six days Jesus taketh with him Peter, and 
James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up 
into a high mountain apart: and was transfigured 
before them; and his face did shine as the sun, and 
his garments became white as the light. And there 
appeared unto them Moses and Elijah talking with 
him. And Peter answered, and said unto Jesus, Lord, 
it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, I will make 



TRANSFIGURATION OF CHRIST 219 

here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for 
Moses, and one for Elijah. While he was yet speak- 
ing, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and 
behold, a voice out of the cloud, saying. This is my 
beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye 
him. And when the disciples heard it, they fell on 
their face, and were sore afraid. And Jesus came 
and touched them and said. Arise, and be not afraid. 
And lifting their eyes, they saw no one, save Jesus 
only" (Matt. 17:1-8). In substantial agreement with 
this are the accounts of this sublime incident as given 
by Mark and Luke, and it is a noteworthy and signif- 
icant fact that all three of these writers bring in this 
account right after the saying of the Saviour that 
''there are some of them that stand here, who shall 
in no wise taste of death, till they see the Son of 
man coming in his kingdom.'' 

Does this circumstance mean anything? Of course 
Jesus did and said many things during the time 
intervening between the saying just quoted and the 
transfiguration, for He was never idle; but every one 
of these writers skips over all these things, and brings 
his account of this great event and records it in imme- 
diate and close connection with the declaration that 
closes the preceding chapter. This shows conclu- 
sively, in my judgment, that there is a vital connec- 
tion between these things, and I verily believe that 
they stand to each other in the relation of prophecy 
and fulfillment. The transfiguration fulfilled the 
Lord's prophecy that some of those who heard Him 
would not die till they should see Him "coming in 
his kingdom"; or, as Mark has it, "till they see the 
kingdom of God come with power;" or Luke, "till 
they see the kingdom of God." A question of prime 



220 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

importance here is, What kingdom does the Lord 
refer to? It has been commonly taken for granted 
that the reference is to the kingdom that was set up 
in this world on the day of Pentecost, and it is 
proper to look at the question from that point of 
view. Let it be carefully noted that the Master says, 
'* There are some of them that stand here, who shall 
in no wise taste of death, till they see" this marvelous 
event. **Some of them" indicates that only a few 
would witness the coming of the kingdom that Jesus 
was talking about, and this fact is very instructive 
in the interpretation of these Scriptures. It is not 
known whether Judas was in that company or not, 
but, if he was, he is the only one, so far as we are 
informed, who did not live to see Pentecost. These 
events occurred not very long before Pentecost, and, 
with the exception just mentioned, the strong prob- 
ability is that all the people who stood there and 
heard what Jesus said, lived to see the happenings 
that occurred that day. This is not at all in harmony 
with the Lord's language, and we must look in another 
direction for the kingdom to which the Master alludes. 
Peter speaks of a kingdom which he calls the 
''eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus 
Christ," and this kingdom pertains to the great 
future toward which we are all hastening. Can it be 
that this is the kingdom to which the Lord refers in 
the language that we are considering? I verily 
believe that it is, and for reasons that I shall now 
attempt to develop. Peter, James and John were 
^^some" of those who stood by and heard what the 
Teacher said, and they witnessed the transfiguration, 
and saw *'the Son of man coming in his kingdom," 
or saw ''the kingdom of God come with power." This 



TRANSFIGURATION OF CHRIST 221 

makes it necessary that we analyze the citizenship of 
the *' eternal kingdom/* which will give us the proper 
standpoint from which to study the transfiguration. 
The citizenship of the "eternal kingdom" will be 
made up of three classes of citizens. First, the 
Saviour is in a class by Himself, enthroned in transcen- 
dent glory and splendor. Second, the redeemed who 
shall have passed through the valley and shadow of 
death and been raised from the dead. Third, those 
of the saved whom the Lord wiU find alive on the 
earth when He comes, and who will enter into the 
eternal kingdom without dying, according to the 
following Scripture: ''We all shaU not sleep, but we 
shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of 
an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall 
sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, 
and we [the living] shall be changed'' (1 Cor. 
15:51, 52). 

Now, with this analysis before ns, let ns examine 
the transfiguration scene with care. The first per- 
sonality to attract our attention is that of the Master. 
We behold Him arrayed in the glory that will adorn 
Him in the eternal kingdom. His face is shining as 
the sun, and His garments are glistering, exceeding 
white, so as no fuller on earth can whiten them. 
Next, we see Moses, and we must study him with great 
care. He had been dead about fifteen hundred years, 
and yet here he is, as I verily believe, in a resurrec- 
tion body, and here the following Scripture is appro- 
priate: ''But Michael the archangel, when contending 
with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, 
durst not bring against him a railing judgment, but 
said, The Lord rebuke thee'' (Jude 9). This is one 
of the most interesting and significant passages in the 



222 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

Bible, and it behooves us to examine it with great 
care in so far as it bears upon the subject now under 
consideration. Let it be particularly noted that this 
contention and disputation between Michael and the 
devil was ''about the body of Moses." It is a rule of 
interpretation universally recognized by exegetes that 
a word is always to be taken in its usual and most 
known signification, unless in a given case it is accom- 
panied by circumstances that make it absolutely nec- 
essary to give it an unusual meaning. 

The passage says that the dispute was about the 
''body'' of Moses, and there is no attending circum- 
stance to indicate that the word is to be understood 
in any unusual sense, and to so take it is to be 
arbitrary and unscientific. The "body" of Moses 
means the body of Moses, and that is as plain and 
simple as it can be made. That the "body of Moses" 
means a body of writing is simply out of the question, 
and to so understand it is to try to force the passage 
into agreement with a preconceived theory. That pro- 
found scholar and prince among men, the president 
of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary for 
many years, used to say to his students as reported to 
me by one of them, "Young brethren, always let the 
Scriptures mean what they want to mean," and the 
best, and about the only, way to "let them mean what 
they want to mean," is to let them mean what they 
say; and the passage now under consideration says 
that the contention between Michael and the devil was 
about the body of Moses, and it should be permitted 
to mean what it says. Moses died apart from his 
people, and the Lord buried him on the side of Mount 
Nebo, and no man knew where his grave was. G-od 
wanted Moses to appear in the transfiguration in his 



TRANSFIGURATION OF CHRIST 223 

body for a special purpose, and He sent the archangel 
to get it. He was going to give a very real represen- 
tation of the eternal kingdom that Peter, James and 
John, who were present when Jesus said, "There be 
some of them that stand here, who shall in no wise 
taste of death till they see the Son of man coming in 
his kingdom," might see it, and He needed that body 
for this purpose. 

When the angel went to get the body the devil 
met him at the grave and disputed his right to invade 
his kingdom and rescue a body that he had captured. 
The devil has always fought shy of the resurrection, 
for it gives the future for man a very realistic and 
substantial existence that makes it very attractive, 
and causes it to appeal with tremendous power to 
man to strive to attain to immortality and eternal life. 
The enemy wants to obscure this great doctrine, and 
involve the minds of men in confusion in regard to it, 
and he knew that if the body of Moses should be 
raised from the dead and presented to competent 
witnesses, it would forever settle the question of the 
resurrection of the dead with all reasonable people. 
It is true that others, including the Saviour Himself, 
have been raised from the dead, but it is also true 
that they had been dead but a few days, and it might 
be said that they were not really dead, but only in a 
state of suspended animation. Mrs. Mary Baker 
Glover Anderson Eddy, in her "Science and Health," 
that acme of absurdities, says that Jesus was not 
actually dead, but had simply swooned from fatigue 
and loss of blood! And yet there are people who 
take this driveling nonsense for the veritable gospel 
of the Lord Jesus Christ. But here is a man who, 
after lying in his grave fifteen hundred years, is alive, 

15 



224 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

and if God can raise from the dead a man who has 
been dead that long, He can raise one from the dead 
who has been dead fifteen millions, or any number, of 
years. The devil did not want the matter to have 
such a demonstration as this, and hence the contention. 
The third personality in the transfiguration is that 
of Elijah, who was translated and taken to glory 
without passing through the grave, and he appears as 
a representative of those who shall be so changed 
as to be fitted for the eternal kingdom without dying. 
If I may be permitted to indulge in some personal 
reflections, I desire to say that I would like to be in 
that company of Christians whom the Lord will find 
living on the earth when He makes His second advent, 
for I frankly confess that I don't want to die, and 
wouldn't die if I could help it. If there is anything 
in all human experience and observation that I hate 
with an intense hatred, it is death. Why shouldn't I? 
Has it not slain many of those whose lives were as 
dear to me as my own? and is it not hot upon my 
track to lay me low in the grave? Yes, I hate it, 
and have no sort of fellowship for it, and would evade 
it if possible. I have absolutely no sympathy with 
that cold, icy theology which charges death up to the 
providence of God. It was through sin that death 
came into the world, and sin came through the devil, 
and hence his Satanic Majesty is the author of death. 
Here is a picture that is realized again and again in 
the affairs of this world: A good Christian is the 
mother of three young children who need a mother's 
care more than they need anything else in life, and 
along comes death and lays its freezing hand upon 
that mother and sends her to her grave. Are you 
going to tell me that God did that? Well, you may 



TRANSFIGURATION OF CHRIST 225 

tell me that and repeat it over and over, but you will 
never make me believe it again. I was brought up 
to believe that God-dishonoring theory, but I thank 
the Lord that I saw my mistake and gave it up many 
years ago. ''The mysterious providence of God," in 
sooth! Better say the cruel providence of the devil, 
who has the power of death. I rejoice in all the 
great and precious promises of God, but there is one 
of these that gives me exquisite pleasure, and that is 
''that the last enemy that shall be abolished is death"! 
Oh, how glad I am that the reign of this monster is 
not to be perpetual, but that his throne is to be over- 
turned, his scepter broken, and he himself abolished. 
Hosanna in the highest heavens, the destroyer is him- 
self to be destroyed. Blessed be God, this great 
Napoleon of the kingdom of darkness is finally to 
come to his Waterloo, meet his Wellington, and be 
banished to the island of extermination! "Praise the 
Lord. Let all the people praise him." 

We have, then, in the transfiguration of Christ all 
the essential elements of the eternal kingdom of our 
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and Peter, James and 
John saw it, and they bare witness to us of that 
sublime fact. Thus we have the utmost assurance of 
the final results of the gospel of the Son of God as 
seen in the redemption of men and women re-created 
in the image and after the likeness of God; and how 
comforting is this assurance in the midst of the toils, 
trials, temptations and heartaches of this life. Even 
from these low grounds of sorrow and distress we can 
look away to the land of sunshine, music and flowers, 
and see the eternal kingdom of our Saviour with its 
glorified King and all its exalted citizenship ; and 
with these prospects before us we can stand upon the 



226 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

precious promises of the gospel and rejoice in hope 
of the glory of God. How like oil on troubled water 
is this heavenly prospect to the hearts of the children 
of men as they trudge along through this world, some- 
times carrying burdens that seem almost unbearable. 
The weary pilgrim may thank God and take courage, 
for he is traveling up the valley toward the rising 
sun, and not down the valley toward the setting sun. 
"Witnesses who saw this miniature representation of 
the eternal kingdom — the everlasting home of the 
redeemed — tell us about its glory, and incite us to 
press forward toward the goal unto the prize of the 
high calling of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord. In 
that assembly of the eternally glorified saints the eye 
of faith can see the dear ones who fell asleep in 
Jesus, sitting by His side in the eternal kingdom, and 
wearing the habiliments of immortality and crowned 
with a crown of eternal life; and the desire to join 
that glorious company becomes an inspiring and con- 
trolling passion. If the miniature representation is so 
glorious, what must the eternal kingdom in its full- 
orbed glory be! 

The foregoing interpretation of the transfiguration 
seems to be confirmed by the following Scripture: **For 
we did not follow cunningly devised fables, when we 
made known unto you the power and coming of our 
Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eye-witnesses of his 
majesty. For he received from God the Father 
honor and glory, when there was borne such a voice to 
him by the Majestic Glory, This is my beloved Son, in 
whom I am well pleased: and this voice we ourselves 
heard borne out of heaven, when we were with him 
in the holy mount" (2 Pet. 1:16-18). That the 
*'holy mount'' was the mount of transfiguration there 



TRANSFIGURATION OF CHRIST 227 

can be no question, and that the reference is to what 
occurred in the transfiguration scene is perfectly 
obvious. Here the inspired writer declares that he 
had made known ''the power and coming of our Lord 
Jesus Christ," and of course he could not have made 
that known if it had not come to pass. Speaking of 
himself and James and John, Peter says, "We were 
eye-witnesses of his majesty," and he simply made 
known to others what he had himself beheld. ''The 
power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" was a 
matter of history when Peter wrote, and was not a 
"cunningly devised fable." Those who constituted 
the "inner circle" of the disciples of Christ were eye- 
witnesses of the majesty of His power and coming, 
and saw the "kingdom of God come with power," or 
saw "the Son of man coming in his kingdom," accord- 
ing to the Saviour's promise. This, I am sure, is the 
main lesson that the transfiguration was meant to 
teach — and what a magnificent lesson it is! 

But I am not saying nor meaning to imply that 
this is the only lesson that that majestic and glorious 
event contains. It may, and probably does, teach 
that the dispensation of Moses and the ancient proph- 
ets was drawing to a close, and that both the legal 
and prophetical functions were to unite in Christ, 
and that henceforth he was to be looked to for both 
legal and prophetical instruction. Perhaps Peter's 
suggestion that three tabernacles be constructed on 
the spot, one for Christ, one for Moses, and one for 
Elijah, indicates that he thought that the gospel of 
Christ would simply be new wine in old wineskins, 
while the disappearance of Moses and Elijah, leaving 
Jesus alone, coupled with the divine admonition, "This 
is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear 



228 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

ye him,'' was meant to impress upon the minds of 
the witnesses that the work of the ancient lawgiver, 
and that of the former prophets, had been completed, 
and Jesus alone was to be lawgiver and prophet to 
His people in the future. This is also an important 
lesson, and it would be well if all professed Christian 
people could learn it and regulate their practice 
accordingly. 

There are still those who want to unite the law of 
Moses and the gospel of Christ, by engrafting upon 
the latter the law of the Sabbath, which is evidently 
done away in Christ Jesus. It is a great mistake 
to suppose that the Sabbath was established to be 
observed by man in commemoration of the completion 
of the work of creation, as attention to the following 
Scripture will show: **And the heaven and the earth 
were finished, and all the host of them. And on the 
seventh day God finished his work which he had 
made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his 
work which he had made. And God blessed the 
seventh day, and hallowed it: because that in it he 
rested from all his work which God had created and 
made" (Gen. 2:1-3). God blessed and hallowed the 
seventh of the days that ^re mentioned in connection 
with His work of creation, and He blessed and sanc- 
tified it to be observed by Himself, and not by man. 
Those seven days were not solar days or days of 
twenty-four hours each, but indefinite periods of time, 
and the seventh one, or God's Sabbath, is still run- 
ning, as is shown by the Saviour's reply to His 
enemies who accused Him of violating the Jewish 
Sabbath in healing a sick man on that day. He said, 
<*My Father worketh even until now, and I work." 
The Master had just done a benevolent work in heal- 



TRANSFIGURATION OF CHRIST 229 

ing the cripple, and he vindicated Himself by appeal- 
ing to precedents set Him by His Father. God had 
been doing benevolent work on His great Sabbath 
from the completion of creation to that very hour 
(''until now") J and the Master's argument in effect 
runs as follows: "I have simply done on your little 
sabbath a work such as God has been doing on His 
great Sabbath all the while." The argument was 
conclusive, and it shows that God's Sabbath is age- 
long, and hence was not appointed for the observance 
of man. 

The sabbath that was established to be observed 
by man was not ordained till after the children of 
Israel came out of the land of Egypt, and was estab- 
lished for a purpose very different from that for 
which God's Sabbath was established. The following 
Scripture is pertinent in this connection: ''Thou 
camest down also upon mount Sinai, and spakest with 
them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments 
and true laws, good statutes and commmandments ; 
and madest known unto them thy holy sabbath," etc. 
(Neh. 9:13, 14). This shows conclusively that no 
sabbath had been ordained to be observed by man 
prior to the giving of the law on Mount Sinai, and 
the purpose of the Sinaitic sabbath is clearly stated 
in the following passage: "Observe the sabbath day, 
to keep it holy, as the Lord thy God commanded 
thee. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: 
but the seventh day is a sabbath unto the Lord thy 
God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy 
son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy 
maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of 
thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; 
that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest 



230 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

as well as thou. And thou shalt remember that thou 
wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and the Lord 
thy God brought thee out thence by a mighty hand 
and by a stretched-out arm: therefore the Lord thy 
God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day" (Deut. 
5:12-15). This language can not be made plainer by 
any attempt at explanation. ''And thou shalt remem- 
ber that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, 
and the Lord thy God brought thee out thence by a 
mighty hand and by a stretched-out arm: therefore 
tJie Lord thy God commanded tJiee to keep the sab- 
hath day.'' Here is a positive statement that God 
commanded the Israelites to keep the sabbath day 
to commemorate the facts that they were slaves in the 
land of Egypt, and that God had mightily and gra- 
ciously delivered them; and this makes it perfectly 
obvious that this sabbath had no reference whatever 
to the work of creation. 

The law concerning this sabbath prohibited the 
building of a fire on that day, in the following enact- 
ment, "Ye shall kindle no fire throughout your habi- 
tations upon the sabbath day" (Ex. 35:3), and for 
gathering sticks (presumably to build a fire) on the 
sabbath day a man was put to death, as related in the 
following Scripture: ''And while the children of Israel 
were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering 
sticks upon the sabbath day. And they that found 
him gathering sticks brought him unto Moses and 
Aaron, and unto all the congregation. And they put 
him in ward, because it had not been declared what 
should be done to him. And the Lord said unto 
Moses, The man shall surely be put to death: all the 
congregation shall stone him with stones without the 
camp. And all the congregation brought him without 



TRANSFIGURATION OF CHRIST 231 

the camp, and stoned Mm with stones, and he died: 
as the Lord commanded Moses" (Num. 15:32-36). 
It was no great hardship to pass a day without fire 
either in the wilderness where the law was enacted 
or in Canaan where the Israelites settled to live in 
the observance of the law; but how would it work in 
the frigid zone? The sabbath law was never meant 
to be observed by any people other than the Jews, 
and it is without significance to the Gentiles because 
they were never in bondage in Egypt, and of course 
were never delivered thence, and have nothing to com- 
memorate by observing the sabbath. But if they are 
going to pretend to keep it, let them keep it just 
as the law requires. 

The sabbath was ordained to be observed for a 
certain purpose, as has just been pointed out, and 
was to be observed for that purpose till a certain 
event should occur, when the law would expire by 
limitation to give place to something better, as Paul 
sets forth most explicitly in his letter to the Galatians, 
as follows: "What then is the law? It was added 
because of transgressions, tiU the seed should come 
to whom the promise hath been made; and it was 
ordained through angels by the hand of a mediator. 
. . . But before faith came, we were kept in ward 
under the law, shut up unto the faith which should 
afterwards be revealed. So that the law is become 
our tutor to bring us unto Christ, that we might be 
justified by faith. But now that faith is come, we 
are no longer under a tutor" (Gal. 3:19-25). This 
passage teaches explicitly that when Christ, the prom- 
ised "seed," came, that event put an end to the law, 
including the sabbath, and retired it, and that since 
faith, or the gospel, has come, people are no longer 



232 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

under "a. tutor/' or the law. Paul particularly 
emphasizes this truth in the following passage: *'But 
if the ministration of death, written, and engraven 
on stones, came with glory, so that the children of 
Israel could not look stedfastly upon the face of Moses 
for the glory of his face; which glory was passing 
away: how shall not rather the ministration of the 
spirit be with glory? For if the ministration of 
condemnation hath glory, much rather doth the min- 
istration of righteousness exceed in glory. For verily 
that which hath been made glorious hath not been 
made glorious in this respect, by reason of the glory 
that surpasseth. For if that which passeth away was 
with glory, much more that which remaineth is in 
glory" (2 Cor. 3:7-11). 

Now, the only ''ministration" that was ever ** writ- 
ten, and engraven on stones," is the Decalogue, or the 
Ten Commandments, and the apostle expressly declares 
it has passed away, or has been done away in Christ, 
That was the ''ministration of death," and it served 
its purpose and passed away to give place to the 
gospel of Christ, which is the "ministration of life." 
It is only from this point of view that the following 
language has force and pertinency: "And you, being 
dead through your trespasses and the uncircumcision 
of your flesh, you, I say, did he make alive together 
with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses; hav- 
ing blotted out the bond written in ordinances that 
was against us, which was contrary to us: and he 
hath taken it out of the way, nailing it to the cross; 
and having despoiled the principalities and the pow- 
ers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over 
them in it. Let no man therefore judge you in meat, 
or in drink, or in respect of a feast day or a new 



TRANSFIGURATION OF CHRIST 233 

moon or a sabbath day'* (Col. 2:13-16). If the 
Scriptures make anything plain, it is that the sabbath 
law has passed away, and that it is no longer of 
binding force and effect. It is quite likely that aU 
this was indicated in the events of the transfiguration 
of Christ, in addition to its main purpose of present- 
ing in miniature form the eternal kingdom of our 
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, in its glory and power. 



EXTREMES MEET 

A SERMON 

Text. — ''And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses 
and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, if one rise 
from the dead."— Luke 16:31. 

I DEEM it altogether unnecessary and profitless to 
discuss the question as to whether the story of 
Lazarus and Dives (the rich man) is parable or his- 
tory, for the lesson that it contains is the same 
whether it is the one or the other; and that lesson 
is that there is a future life for man, and that the 
character of that life depends upon the kind of life 
one lives here. This consideration ought to prompt 
sensible people to order their conversation and conduct 
here below in harmony with the teaching of the word 
of God, so that when they are called upon to pass 
out of this world into the great beyond, they may 
have the assurance that they will enter upon the 
enjoyment of immortality and eternal life in the 
presence of God. Unless this be the case, this life 
is a miserable failure and farce, and one had better 
never have been born. Men and women should be 
admonished to heed the Saviour's exhortation when 
He says: "But seek ye first his kingdom, and his 
righteousness; and all these things shall be added 
unto you." This suggests a life of faith in God and 
His overruling providence, and places man upon the 
highest plane accessible to him in this life. 

234 



I 



EXTREMES MEET 235 

In this pathetic story extremes meet in two 
instances, and each may be studied with interest and 
profit by thoughtful and prudent people. ''Now there 
was a certain rich man, and he was clothed in purple 
and fine linen, faring sumptuously every day." Here 
is the extreme of plenty and luxury, a fine residence 
handsomely furnished, and a table laden with the 
richest delicacies that the market affords, while the 
most gorgeous apparel adorns the members of the 
family. "And a certain beggar named Lazarus was 
laid at his gate, full of sores, and desiring to be fed 
with the crumbs that fell from the rich man's table; 
yea, even the dogs came and licked his sores." Here 
is the extreme of poverty and distress, and it appears 
by the side of the extreme of the greatest abundance. 
What a pitiable object that is that lies there at the 
gateway leading into the magnificent premises of the 
man of wealth, upon a pallet of straw, covered with 
sores from head to feet, and his only attending physi- 
cians the dogs of the street that lick his suppurating 
sores! But it is not to be always thus in either case. 
In process of time the beggar dies, and we are not 
informed as to what disposition was made of his 
putrid body. If it was buried at all, it was no doubt 
in potter's field, without fiowers and without mourn- 
ers. But, blessed be God, the story does not end 
here. *'He was carried away by the angels into 
Abraham's bosom." As that child of misfortune lay 
there, not upon a downy bed, but upon the open 
street, with no friendly, loving hand to brush the 
dew of death from his brow, but surrounded by mangy 
dogs, with his physical ear becoming dull as the hand 
of the death-angel was laid upon him, no doubt his 
spiritual ear could catch the rustle of the wings of 



236 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

angels that hovered over him, ready to receive his 
spirit as its frail tenement of clay should fall to 
pieces, and bear it away to a place in the home of 
the blessed. 

The teaching of the word of God in regard to the 
ministry of angels presents a subject of thrilling 
interest to an appreciative mind. How often these 
messengers appeared to direct the affairs of the ancient 
people of Grod, and deliver the saints of the Most 
High from danger and trouble! *'The angel of the 
Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and 
delivereth them," is a declaration of Holy Writ that 
is wholesome and full of comfort to a man or woman 
of faith in God and His promises. We are called 
upon to travel over roads that are rough and rocky, 
and along which grow thorns and briers, and it is a 
source of inexpressible joy to know that the good 
Lord has charged His angels concerning us to keep 
us and protect us along the way, lest at any time 
we dash our feet against stones, or become entangled 
in thorns and briers, and get ourselves torn and 
mangled thereby. Not many of the precious assur- 
ances of the word of God are sweeter than the decla- 
ration concerning angels, that they are ministering 
spirits, '*sent forth to do service for the sake of them 
that shall inherit salvation.'* If we could take hold 
of this assurance with a masculine faith, and feel that 
the heavenly Father is watching over us, and making 
His angels our servants, what a world of trouble, 
anxiety and vexation it would save us from! If we 
could only do the best we can for ourselves, and 
leave the rest with God, feeling fully assured that 
He will bring things out all right, life would be 
sweeter and brighter. 



EXTREMES MEET 237 

**And the rich man also died, and was buried.'* 
Certainly. The rich must die as well as the poor. 
Colonel Astor, with all his millions, could not buy a 
seat in a life-boat, and had to go down with the 
hundreds of others who perished in the "Titanic" 
disaster. Death had no more regard for Dives in his 
splendid mansion, clothed in purple and fine linen 
and faring sumptuously every day, than it had for 
poor Lazarus who lay at his gate full of sores. Pre- 
pare to meet thy God, whoever you are, and whatever 
may be your condition in life, for by and by you 
must stand before His throne to give an account of 
the deeds done in your body. It is particularly noted 
that the rich man was buried, and what a funeral 
that must have been! No doubt messengers were dis- 
patched in every direction to notify kindred and 
friends of the death and funeral of the wealthy and 
popular man, and from every direction people came 
to pay tributes of respect to the memory of the 
departed, bringing with them floral offerings of richest 
hue and most artistic design. And if a funeral 
oration was delivered over the remains by some one 
of like mind with some modern preachers, probably 
the deceased was given a passport to glory. It is 
likely that some preachers do more harm preaching 
funerals, than they do good preaching Christ. The 
people usually know the character of the dead much 
better than does the preacher who preaches funerals, 
and when they hear a preacher trying to comfort the 
living by assuring them that the beloved dead has 
gone to heaven, when they know that he lived an 
ungodly life, they are liable either to become disgusted 
with religion, or conclude that they can live ungodly 
lives and be saved too. There is great danger here. 



238 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

I heard Moses E. Lard, the greatest preacher to 
whom I ever listened, tell the following pathetic story: 
He had a very dear friend who was a successful 
lawyer, and withal an excellent man every way in 
the estimation of the world, but he was not a Chris- 
tian. He took sick, and it soon became evident both 
to him and his friends that he would die in a little 
while. He sent for his close friend, Bro. Lard, who 
was glad to respond and render the dying man any 
assistance he might be able to confer upon him. He 
made the visit, and, after the usual salutations were 
exchanged, the sick man said: **Mr. Lard, I woidd 
not have you think that I have sent for you with any 
idea that you can do me any good in my dying hour, 
for such is not the case. I know that when I die I 
will go to perdition, and there is no help for me.'* 
''Why/' said Bro. Lard, *' don't you think there is 
any hope?" ''Hope, Mr. Lard; talk not to me about 
hope. For twenty-five years I have understood the 
gospel and my duty under it as well as you do, Mr. 
Lard, and during all that time I have refused to obey 
the Lord Jesus Christ. I have lived a life of disobedi- 
ence and am dying in my sins, and where Christ is 
I can not go. I am lost — eternally lost. I sent for 
you to tell you that I want you to preach my funeral, 
and I don't want any sentimentalism about it. I 
want you to tell my friends and neighbors that while 
you are preaching my funeral I am in hell, and 
inform them that I requested you to tell them this. 
I want you to use my case to warn others against 
the life of disobedience that I have lived, lest they 
die without hope, as I am dying, and go to hell, as I 
am about to do." That is a blood-curdling story, but 
it introduces us to an honest man face to face with 



EXTREMES MEET 239 

fearful realities, and every one of us ought to be 
warned against the fatal mistake that he made. 

''The rich man died, and was buried," and per- 
haps a towering shaft was erected over his tomb; but 
the story does not end here. ''And in Hades he lifted 
up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham 
afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom." Here we have 
the second meeting of extremes, and it involves the 
same parties that were concerned in the former meet- 
ing, but with tables turned and circumstances reversed. 
Dives, who, in the other meeting, was in the extreme 
of plenty and satisfaction, is now in the extreme of 
want and misery, while Lazarus, who, in the former 
meeting, was in the extreme of poverty and suffering, 
is now enjoying the extreme of happiness and bliss. 
But listen: "Father Abraham." It is Dives talking, 
and talking in prayer — a thing that he had probably 
neglected all his lifetime. Listen to his first petition: 
"Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Laz- 
arus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, 
and cool my tongue; for I am in anguish in this 
flame." Little did he ever dream, while on earth, 
that circumstances could ever possibly arise under 
which the poor beggar that lay at his gate could 
render him the least favor. But the unexpected has 
happened, and he finds himself in desperate straits, 
and in anguish he makes application for a little relief 
at the hands of the former beggar. "Send Lazarus, 
that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and 
cool my tongue; for I am in anguish in this flame." 
What an insignificant benefaction is thus pitifully 
sought, and with what touching and pathetic earnest- 
ness the petition is urged: "I am tormented in this 
flame." Will not this plea melt the heart of Abra- 

16 



240 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

ham, and move him to send Lazarus in haste with 
the desired relief? If he is a person under the domi- 
nation of sentimentalism and blind to the demands 
of justice, he will yield to the pathetic pleading of 
Dives, who cries mightily from the depths of the pit 
of ruin. But listen: ''Son, remember that thou in 
thy lifetime receivedest thy good things, and Lazarus 
in like manner evil things: but now here he is com- 
forted, and thou art in anguish.'* ''Remember!'' 
How that must have penetrated the soul of the 
formerly rich man like a dirk! While memory may 
be an angel of pleasure and happiness, it may also 
be a demon of torture armed with scorpion cords to 
lash the conscience most unmercifully. There are 
things in the past of the lives of all of us that we 
would gladly forget, but memory clings to them and 
refuses to let them go, and they are to us ministers 
of chastisement. This suggests the importance of sow- 
ing in the soil of memory only such seeds as will 
bring forth flowers of beauty and fragrance to delight 
us along the way, and not thorns and briers to tor- 
ment us. Good deeds will produce the flowers, while 
evil deeds will bring forth the thorns and briers. 
"With what pleasure one remembers words of love 
spoken to mother in early life, while the memory of 
deeds of kindness shown that dear one is a joy for- 
ever. But inconsiderate words and unkind deeds 
directed toward that sacred person produce memories 
by and by that tear the soul like the teeth of a hackle. 
Let us all take good heed as to what we lay up in 
the storehouse of memory. 

"Remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst 
thy good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil 
things." Yes, what a vivid picture that presented 



EXTREMES MEET 241 

to the eye of the rich man's memory. He saw a 
beautiful street in the city of Jerusalem, upon which 
was located a splendid mansion in which dwelt a man 
who lived in the lap of luxury every day, and down 
at the gate lay a poor wretch covered with sores. 
How natural it all seemed, and how striking the con- 
trast that follows: ''But now here he is comforted, 
and thou art in anguish." The balance-sheet has 
been struck, and things have been evened up. Justice 
has been vindicated, and human folly exposed. '*And 
besides all this, between us and you there is a great 
gulf fixed that they that would pass from hence to 
you may not be able, and that none may cross over 
from thence to us." This is a weighty and powerful 
statement, and it has a lesson for us all, but especially 
for those effeminate preachers and teachers whose sen- 
sitive souls revolt at the idea of eternal punishment. 
There is an intervening and impassable gulf fixed — 
f-i-x-e-d! Let no one be deceived by the fallacious 
notion that he can spend his life in sin, and, after 
being punished awhile hereafter, escape, and attain 
to the land of bliss. This idea is a snare and a delu- 
sion prepared by the devil to ensnare the unwary 
and accomplish their eternal ruin. If the New Testa- 
ment teaches anything plainly, it is that the finally 
impenitent will be ''punished with eternal destruction 
from the face of the Lord and from the glory of his 
might" (1 Thess. 1:9), and He who spoke as never 
man spoke, speaking of the final judgment and the 
destiny of the wicked, says that they ''shall go away 
into eternal punishment" (Matt. 25:46). "Be not 
deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man 
soweth, that shall he also reap." If one sow to the 
wind, one shall reap the whirlwind. 



242 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

Seeing that his owii case was utterly hopeless, 
Dives thinks of his brothers, and enters a plea in 
their behalf: **I pray thee, therefore, father, that thou 
wouldst send him to my father's house; for I have 
five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they 
also come into this place of torment." Better for him 
and them had he thought of that before. Perhaps 
he was the oldest of the six brothers, and was looked 
up to by the rest as an example, and if he had lived 
the right kind of a life, he would have landed in a 
different place, and his brothers would have had no 
need of the ministry of a special messenger from 
heaven to warn them against the awful fate that 
befell him. Tremendous responsibilities rest upon 
every individual with respect to others, for no man 
lives simply unto himself. Every life touches and 
influences some other life for weal or woe; and hence 
a man should exercise the utmost caution as to the 
influence he is exercising upon those round about 
him, for he may be shaping their destiny for eternity. 
A father may land his own children in heaven or 
hell, according to the example that he places before 
them in his daily walk. Tortured by the thought 
that his brothers were following in his footsteps, and 
would consequently land where he was, he undertook 
to avert such a calamity, when it was too late, by 
pleading with Abraham to send Lazarus to warn them. 
It has been said that misery loves company, but here 
is a man in the deepest depths of misery, and yet he 
does not desire the company of his brothers in his 
pit of destruction. 

Note well the reply that Abraham made to this 
urgent appeal: **They have Moses and the prophets; 
let them hear them." In putting this language into 



imi 



EXTREMES MEET 243 

the mouth of Abraham the Master recognizes the 
Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch, for it was only 
in his writings that these brothers had Moses, and 
the Pentateuch contains the only writings that were 
ever attributed to Moses vfith any degree of confi- 
dence. Speculating critics would do well to heed the 
Lord's decision in this matter, and not call in ques- 
tion the accuracy of his judgment in the case. Moses 
wrote the Pentateuch, if Jesus told the truth. In his 
deep anxiety for his brothers the rich man undertakes 
to argue the case with Abraham, and says, ''Nay, 
father Abraham: but if one go to them from_ the 
dead, they will repent." Men have no right to expect 
that God will do more for them, unless they make 
diligent and proper use of the blessings that He has 
already bestowed upon them. In addition to Moses 
and the prophets, we have Christ and the apostles, 
and if the possession of Moses and the prophets left 
the Jews without excuse for their disobedience, surely 
we can make no plea in extenuation of our neglect 
of the salvation offered us in the glorious gospel of 
the Son of God; but, having neglected and rejected 
this heavenly boon, we will have to stand in profound 
silence before the throne of judgment to receive the 
sentence of eternal condemnation. Surely aU men 
should take warning, and govern themselves accord- 
ingly. 

The reply to this pathetic and thrilling appeal in 
behalf of the living is startling and amazing: "If 
they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will 
they be persuaded, if one rise from the dead.*' 
Strange and surprising as this statement is, it found 
verification in the conduct of the Jews with respect 
to the risen Saviour. They knew that He rose from 



244 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

the dead, and yet they refused to be persuaded to 
accept the truth and become obedient to the Lord of 
glory. It is remarkable that the human mind can 
reach such a degree of perversity and obduracy. 
Instead of accepting the fact of the resurrection of 
Christ, and surrendering to Him as King of kings 
and Lord of lords, they hired men to lie about it, 
and give it out that His disciples came and stole Him 
away while they were asleep ! ! By sin men may 
reach that state of moral hardness as to be beyond 
the power of truth to change them, and be given over 
to hardness of heart and reprobacy of mind, to believe 
a lie and be led captive at the will of Satan. Men 
of our day think that the Jews who acted thus in 
regard to the Messiah were very wicked, and so they 
were; but how much worse were they than those of 
our time who say that they believe in the resurrection 
of Christ and the truth of the gospel, and yet refuse 
to bow to the authority of Him who died for their 
sins, and rose again for their justification? **Why 
call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things that I 
say?" is the Master's challenge to disobedient people 
who say they believe that He is the Son of God. 
How will they meet that challenge in the day of 
judgment? 

It remains to inquire into the basis of the con- 
demnation of the rich man, and the salvation of 
Lazarus. Why was the latter saved? Not because 
he was poor, for there is no virtue in poverty in itself 
considered. Indeed, it may be very blameworthy. If 
poverty comes as a result of sin, it is a crime that 
has but little palliation. Poverty saves nobody. This 
poor man was saved because he believed in God, and 
served Him as best he could, and it is a blessed 



EXTREMES MEET 245 

thing to know that poverty has no power to separate 
one from God and keep one out of heaven. The hard- 
ships of poverty that we experience here may enter 
into the background of the glory that awaits the 
faithful in the great and glorious beyond. ''God 
chooses them that are poor as to the world to be rich 
in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he promised 
to them that love him," and certainly this assurance 
is abundant compensation for all the pinching poverty 
that may torment one here below. While Lazarus was 
overwhelmed with poverty, yet he loved God and was 
rich in faith, and when he died God's angels took 
him home to glory. 

Why was the rich man lost? Not because he was 
rich, for, while there is danger to the soul in riches, 
as the Saviour clearly teaches, yet riches are not 
sinful in themselves. They may be obtained by sin- 
ful methods, and expended in ways that are wrong, 
but this does not make them sinful per se. Abraham 
was rich, and yet he was the friend of God, and the 
father of the faithful, and Paul instructs Timothy 
to "charge them that are rich in this present world, 
that they be not highminded, nor have their hope set 
on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who giveth 
us richly all things to enjoy; that they do good, that 
they be rich in good works, that they be ready to 
distribute, willing to communicate; laying up in store 
for themselves a good foundation against the time to 
come, that they may lay hold on the life which is 
life indeed." The apostle does not intimate that the 
rich can not be saved, but, on the contrary, he 
expressly teaches that the rich may so employ their 
wealth as to enable them to lay hold of eternal life, 
which is "life indeed." Dives was not lost because 



246 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

he was rich. Was he a stingy skinflint who felt no 
interest in the poor and needy, and went to perdition 
on that account? It is sometimes so alleged, but it 
seems to me that this view of the matter is unfair 
to the facts and unjust to the man. How came 
Lazarus to be lying at the gate of this rich man? 
It was because that was the best place he could find 
to get relief. In those days the poverty-stricken 
placed themselves, or were placed by their friends, 
where the benevolently inclined could conveniently 
bestow upon them benefactions. Such an object was 
''laid daily at the door of the temple which is called 
Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into 
the temple," because that was a convenient place for 
him to be to receive the help that he so much needed. 
And it was for the same reason that poor Lazarus 
was laid at the gate of Dives, and it is more than 
probable that the rich man saw to it that many and 
large crumbs fell within the reach of the needy man 
who lay ''in the street below," and there is nothing 
to indicate that crumbs were all that Lazarus received. 
The fact that the rich man called for some service 
at the hands of Lazarus seems to suggest that he felt 
that the beggar was under some obligation to him. 
There is no evidence that Dives was a close, hard- 
fisted man to whom the milk of human kindness was 
unknown. 

Why, then, was he lost? Simply because he 
ignored God, as multiplied thousands of men and 
women have done, and are doing to-day. He had a 
plenty of the goods of this world, and was therewith 
content. He did not take God into the account at all 
in the plans and purposes of his life. He was run- 
ning his own boat, and felt no dependence upon or 



EXTKEiVIES MEET 247 

obligation to God whatever. He felt sufficient of him- 
self to take care of himself, and draw from his own 
resources everything that he needed. He had no 
thought of any other world than this, and looked to 
it for the highest good that he craved. He was not 
the least concerned about the great future, and made 
no sort of provision for it. He corresponds to the 
man of whom it is said in Holy Scripture, **The 
fool hath said in his heart, There is no God." Some 
understand this saying thus: "The fool hath said in 
heart, No God;" that is, no God for me. And thus 
construed, the passage does not regard the fool as 
denying the existence of God, but simply as declaring 
his independence of Him; as much as to say, ''I 
don't need God, and can get along without Him." 
A man who admits that God is, and at the same time 
proclaims his independence of Him, is a bigger fool 
than he who says there is no God. A person who 
tries to get along without God has a hard road to 
travel, and will dash his feet against many stones 
along the way. But even if he can manage to get 
through this world fairly well on the independent 
line, the time will come when he will realize the folly 
of his course. A young lady of an aristocratic family 
became convinced that she ought to obey her Saviour 
and enter into the kingdom of God; but her father, 
a man wholly devoted to the world, dissuaded her, 
and even gave her a bribe not to ally herself with 
Christian people. By and by she took sick, and it 
soon became evident that death was inevitable. Upon 
being so informed, she called her father into her sick- 
chamber, and the following conversation took place: 
''Father," said the daughter, ''they tell me that I 
must soon die." "Yes, daughter," replied the father, 



248 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

''in spite of all that could be done to avoid it, you 
must die.'' ''Father," said the dying maid, "this is 
a lonely and dreary journey upon which I am enter- 
ing; can't you go with me?" "No," said the father, 
convulsed with emotion, "I can not accompany you; 
if I could, I would gladly do so." "I know that," 
responded the daughter; "you can not go with me, 
and Jesus, whom you persuaded me not to accept, will 
not. I must go alone." Then two hearts broke, and 
in a little while the soul of the dying girl started 
through the valley of the shadow of death with 
neither Saviour nor father to cheer her amidst the 
gathering gloom. Men may imagine that they do not 
need God in life, but when death comes, and eternity 
opens to receive them, they will awaken, when it is 
too late, to the great need of the divine presence and 
support. Dives undertook to get along without God, 
and he is now and forever in a place of torment. 

Hear his pitiful wail: "I am in anguish in this 
flame." It has been said that hell is a condition, and 
not a place, but a condition without a place is impos- 
sible, and those who entertain this inconsistent philos- 
ophy would do well to pay attention to the testimony 
of one who speaks from experience. Dives prayed 
Abraham to send Lazarus to his brothers to testify 
to them, "lest they also come into this place of tor- 
ment." This wretched man realized that he was in a 
place — an isolated place from which there was no 
escape. Hell involves both place and condition, and 
both are frightful in the extreme, and strenuous 
efforts should be made to avoid them. It would be 
as reasonable to say that heaven is a condition, and 
not a place, as to say this of hell; but Jesus says, "I 
go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and pre- 



EXTREMES MEET 249 

pare a place for you, I will come again and receive 
you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be 
also." The idea that God is everywhere in general, 
and nowhere in particular, is against both reason and 
Scripture, and smacks strongly of pantheism. If God 
is a person, which reason and revelation clearly teach. 
He must have some certain dwelling-place, and that 
place is called heaven. In like manner there is a 
place called hell, which was prepared for the devil 
and his angels, and into that place the wicked will be 
turned in the day of judgment. 

This place is characterized in the New Testament 
as a lake of fire and brimstone, in the following 
passages: **And the beast was taken, and with him 
the false prophet that v^rought the signs in his sight, 
wherewith he deceived them that had received the 
mark of the beast and them that worshipped his 
image: they two were cast alive into the lake of fire 
that burneth with brimstone" (Rev. 19:20). ''And 
the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of 
fire and brimstone, where are also the beaist and the 
false prophet; and they shall be tormented day and 
night for ever and ever" (Rev. 20:10). "But for 
the fearful, and unbelieving, and abominable, and 
murderers, and fornicators, and sorcerers, and idola- 
ters, and all liars, their part shall be in the lake that 
burneth with fire and brimstone; which is the second 
death" (Rev. 21:8). Dives said: **I am in anguish 
in this flame." We are now in front of a question 
of interpretation, and must proceed cautiously. Are 
we to understand from these passages that hell, as a 
place, consists of a lake of literal fire and brimstone? 
From the standpont of reason, this question must be 
answered in the negative. Where would the brim- 



250 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

stone come from to keep a lake of immense size 
burning day and night for ever and ever? Couldn't 
God make it? Well, I suppose he could, but the idea 
that God is running a brimstone factory to make 
brimstone to burn people throughout eternity, does 
not seem to harmonize with the disposition that the 
Scriptures ascribe to the loving God and Father of 
our Lord and Sa^dour Jesus Christ. Let us look at 
some other passages bearing upon the same subject, 
that are manifestly to be taken as tropes, or figures 
of speech: *'And I saw an angel coming down out of 
heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain 
in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, the 
old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan, and bound 
him for a thousand years, and cast him into the 
abyss," etc. (Rev. 20:1-3). The Common Version 
renders the word here translated ''abyss" by the 
phrase ''bottomless pit," and this appears to me to 
be a better rendering than the other. Indeed, "abyss" 
is scarcely a translation at all, but rather a transfer- 
ence of the Greek word ahussos, pretty much as 
haptizo is transferred as "baptize." "Bottomless pit" 
expresses the idea quite happily, and it is a figure of 
speech in which future punishment is represented as 
falling, falling, for ever falling into a pit that has 
no bottom. "And I say unto you, that many shall 
come from the east and the west, and shall sit down 
with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom 
of heaven: but the sons of the kingdom shall be cast 
forth into the outer darkness" (Matt. 8:12). "And 
cast ye out the unprofitable servant into the outer 
darkness" (Matt. 25:30). This figure represents the 
Avicked as living and wandering in darkness forever. 
"And if thine eye cause thee to stumble, cast it out: 



EXTREMES MEET 251 

it is good for thee to enter into the kingdom of God 
with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast 
into hell; where their worm dieth not, and the fire 
is not quenched'' (Mark 9:47, 48). Here we have 
two figures, in the first of which a worm is repre- 
sented as gnawing upon the vitals of the wicked for- 
ever, and the other regards the lost as spending 
eternity in fire. 

These manifest tropes point to "the lake of fire 
and brimstone" as a bold and striking figure of 
speech to indicate the awfulness of future punish- 
ment. It seems that God has exhausted his resources 
in His earnest effort to get before the minds of men 
the fearfulness of the fate that awaits those who die 
in their sins. Let no one imagine that the reality 
of future punishment is dissij^ated in these figures 
of speech. On the contrary, it is stressed and empha- 
sized by this method of illustration. Correct figures 
of speech are always based on facts, and the facts 
are much more real and substantial than the figures 
that are founded upon them. If the passages that 
have been cited are figures, what must the fact be 
upon which they are built! If these Scriptures are 
simply shadows, what must the substance that casts 
them be! What is the nature of the punishment thus 
represented? Remorse of conscience? Let it be that, 
at least in part, and it is something that beggars 
description. It has been a long time since I read 
Pollock's "Course of Time," and I have not the book 
at hand at present, and the passage that I am about 
to recite is reproduced from memory; and while it 
may not be exactly accurate in its verbiage, yet it 
is substantially correct, and should be read with all 
seriousness : 



252 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

**As felt the material part, when in the furnace cast, 
So felt the soul, the victim of remorse: 
Who passed there met remorse; 
The heavens above, the earth beneath, 
Seemed glowing brass, heated seven times: 
A violent fever seized his soul, 
And as he writhed and quivered, scorched within, 
The fury round his torrid temples flapped her fiery wings. 
And breathed upon his lips and parched tongue 
The withered blasts of hell." 

Is not this scorching within more dreadful even 
than the suffering resulting from the application of 
fire to the flesh? This wonderful picture drawn by 
one of the greatest poets that ever toyed with the 
Muses is enough to prompt all intelligent beings to 
strive to so live that they may not be ''victims of 
remorse'' in the great hereafter toward which we are 
all hastening as fast as the wheels of time can revolve. 
Or take that marvelous production known as ''The 
Raven." Literary critics have been somewhat at a 
loss to discover the real meaning and intent of this 
remarkable poem, and some have concluded that there 
is no plot or plan to it; that it is simply the ebulli- 
tion of a mind diseased with liquor, the frothing of 
an inebriate's intoxicated soul. But if Edgar Allan 
Poe ever experienced a sober, serious hour in his 
brief life, it was when he was composing "The 
Raven." It is the wail of a lost soul, the outcry of 
a spirit already in "anguish in this flame." He 
had misspent his life and thrown away his opportu- 
nities, and is now facing a dark and terrible future, 
and remorse wrings this stream of weird eloquence 
from his perturbed heart. He represents himself as 
in his room alone one stormy night, when suddenly 
there came a "rapping at his chamber door." Think- 



EXTREMES MEET 253 

ing that some visitor was seeking admittance, lie 
opened the door, and, peering into the darkness, he 
found no one present. Resuming his place, he heard 
the rapping repeated, but this time at his window, 
and, upon opening the shutter, "in there stepped a 
stately raven" and ''perched upon the bust of Pallas 
just above his chamber door." Then ensued the 
following colloquy which is embraced in the poem: 

** Prophet!" cried I, "thing of evil! — prophet still, if bird or 
devil! — 
Whether Tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here 

ashore, 
Desolate, yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted, — 
On this home by horror haunted, — ^teU me truly, I implore, 
Is there — is there balm in Gilead? Tell me! tell me, I 
implore ! ' ' 

Quoth the Eaven, ''Nevermore." 

** Prophet I" cried T, ''thing of evil! — prophet still, if bird or 

devil! — 
By that heaven that bends above us, — ^by that God we both 

adore, — 
Tell this soul -with sorrow laden, if, within the distant Aidenn, 
It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name 

Lenore — 
Clasp a rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name 

Lenore. ' ' 

Quoth the Eaven, "Nevermore." 

"Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!" I shrieked, 

upstarting. 
"Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian 
shore ! 
Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath 

spoken ! 
Leave my loneliness unbroken! — quit the bust above my door I 
Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from 
off my door ! ' ' 

Quoth the Eaven, "Nevermore." 



254 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

And the Eaven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting 
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door; 
And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is 

dreaming. 
And the lamplight o'er him streaming throws his shadow on 

the floor; 
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the 

floor 

Shall be lifted — nevermore. 

Think of spending eternity in that frame of mind! 
Contemplate receiving the lashes of remorse for ever 
and ever! Think of crying out from the depths of 
deepest anguish for relief, with no relief possible! 
It seems that God has gone to the limit and exhausted 
His resources in His efforts to impress upon the 
human mind the awfnlness of the fate of those who 
die in their sins, and hence must be banished from 
the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His 
power for ever and ever! Think of the sensation of 
falling throughout eternity! Consider the horrors of 
wandering in utter darkness forever! Reflect upon 
the misery of having an undying worm gnawing at 
your vitals without ceasing! Meditate upon the fear- 
fulness of swimming in a lake of fire and brimstone 
throughout the countless ages that make up eternity! 
Let these be figures of speech, which I am sure they 
are, and do they not represent something that must 
be inconceivably horrible? Every one of these figures 
is a flaming tongue appealing to the children of men 
to flee from such a fate, fall in with the overtures 
of mercy, and lay hold upon the hope of immortality 
that is so freely offered in the gospel of the Son of 
God. 

Let no one lay the flattering unction to his soul 
that God in His infinite mercy will save him anyhow, 



EXTEEMES MEET 255 

for the demands of infinite justice must be met 
before there is room for the exercise of mercy. In 
the mighty sweep of His goodness the Lord has made 
provision by which mercy may reach and save all 
those who become reconciled to God, believe in Jesus 
Christ, and obey the gospel of divine grace; and till 
this is done mercy has gone as far as it can go 
without compromising the principles of eternal truth 
and righteousness, and wrecking the universe. The 
mercy of God is truly wonderful, and what it has 
accomplished to redeem man from the condemnation 
of his own sins is something to astonish even the 
angels of God. That was a beautiful view of the 
mercy of God which prompted the Psalmist to utter 
the 136th Psalm, in which he exclaims twenty-six times, 
'*For his mercy eiidureth for ever," and while this 
is the utterance of a great truth in which we should 
continually rejoice, still it should be remembered that 
Jehovah will not permit His mercy to trample upon 
justice nor thwart the ends of righteousness. God is 
the King of the universe and He reigns in righteous- 
ness, and men must not expect to be the beneficiaries 
of His mercy without complying with the require- 
ments of His righteous law. God must maintain His 
word at all hazards, and to suppose that He will 
override His word to exercise His mercy upon the 
disobedient is a snare and a delusion. Jesus Christ 
became ''the author of eternal salvation unto all them 
that obey him," and to look for salvation even through 
the Saviour of men, while living in open disobedience 
to Him, is to expect water from a dry well. 

That was a great lesson that God taught in words 
that He addressed through Samuel to a disobedient 
king. Saul had been given specific instructions as to 

17 



256 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

how he should dispose of the Amalekites and their 
cattle — all were to be slain. But Agag the king was 
spared, and some of the best of the cattle were saved 
under pretext of offering them in sacrifice to God, 
who had given Saul the victory. But Samuel said 
to King Saul: "Hath the Lord as great delight in 
burnt-offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice 
of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, 
and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion 
is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as 
idolatry and teraphim" (1 Sam. 15:22, 23). That 
disobedience lost to Saul and his family the kingdom, 
and it stands there on the page of sacred history as 
a perpetual warning against disobeying the voice of 
the Lord. The following Scripture will make a fitting 
close to this discourse: *'This is the end of the matter; 
all hath been heard: fear God, and keep his com- 
mandments j for this is the whole duty of man.'' 



THE CHRISTIAN RACE 

A SERMON 

Text. — "Therefore let us also, seeing we are compassed 
about with so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every 
weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us 
run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto 
Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy 
that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, 
and hath sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.^' 
— Heb. 12:1, 2. 

THE keyword in this passage is the term ''wit- 
nesses," and the first thing to do in the inter- 
pretation of this Scripture is to ascertain the meaning 
of this term as here used, for the meaning that we 
attach to it will largely determine the meaning of 
the passage as a whole. As employed in common 
parlance, this word is used in two senses. It is used 
passively to indicate a spectator — one who sits or 
stands by and observes a transaction. And then it is 
used in an active sense to signify one who bears 
testimony to something he saw or heard. If a man 
is upon the street and sees a transaction, he is a 
witness in the passive sense of the term; but if he is 
called into court to tell what he saw, he becomes a 
witness in the active sense of the word. 

In which of these senses is the word to be taken 
in our text? Probably the view most commonly enter- 
tained by expositors is that it is to be taken in the 
passive sense. It has been presented somewhat after 
the following fashion: The Christian is represented as 

257 



258 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

occupying the center of a hollow sphere so as to be 
the observed of all observers, and that the eyes of all 
intelligent beings are resting upon him as interested 
observers. Immediately overhead sits God looking 
down upon His child who is running this race, with 
deep and sympathetic interest, and intensely anxious 
as to the outcome. By His side sits the Saviour, who 
is also watching the runner as he presses forward in 
the race, and is deeply concerned as to the final result. 
Then come the angels and archangels, who are 
intently gazing upon the Christian as he bends for- 
ward in the race, and ready to be sent upon errands 
of relief and helpfulness if need be. The word of 
God says that they are all "ministering spirits sent 
forth to minister for those who shall be heirs of 
salvation," and this is a very encouraging assurance 
to the pilgrims of earth who are running the Chris- 
tian race, sometimes amid circumstances of sorrow 
and discouragement. 

Next to the angels stand the spirits of the just 
made perfect who were once runners in this race 
themselves, and came off victors and are now wear- 
ing their crowns. They, too, are interested in the 
race that the Christian is still running in this 
world, and are looking on with the deepest concern 
with respect to the outcome. It is not supposable that 
Christian people are less concerned for their fellow- 
Christians after they leave the race-course in triumph, 
than they were before they shuffled off the mortal coil. 
And who knows but that they may be sent forth to 
minister to their friends who are still upon the shores 
of time? ''Angel" simply means messenger, and a 
redeemed spirit might be a messenger the same as any 
other being, and it might be a joy to such to be sent 



THE CHRISTIAN RACE 259 

on an errand of mercy and helpfulness to friends. 
Then come Christian men and women who are looking 
upon each other as they run this race, ready to speak 
an encouraging word and extend a helping hand to 
one another. This is the meaning of Christian fellow- 
ship, and what a blessed thing it is ! For a man to feel 
assured that he is surrounded by kindred spirits who 
are in sympathy with him, and are ready to help him 
along the way, imparts strength and courage, and 
makes the burdens of life lighter. The people of God 
constitute a family that is held together by the bonds 
of love, and every member of the family feels bound 
to help and defend every other member. No member 
will speak evil of any other member, but, on the con- 
trary, if one hears another spoken against, he will 
speak a word of defense. If Christian fellowship 
doesn't mean this, it doesn't mean much of anything. 
Going now below the horizon, so to speak, we next 
encounter bad people who are watching the Christian 
as he is engaged in running this race, but watching 
with a desire to see him stumble and fall. They are 
the critics of the church and Christian people, and are 
always ready to find fault with those who are trying 
to live the Christian life. They won't come into the 
church because there are hypocrites there, and because 
they are just as good as church-members! These 
people do not compare themselves with the pious, 
godly, consistent members of the church, but with the 
weak and erring ones who, through their own frailty 
and the strength of temptation, go astray and fall by 
the way. These critics are the buzzards of the spir- 
itual world. If you go out into the field some beau- 
tiful summer day, you will probably see a large bird 
circling about in the balmy air in a most graceful 



260 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

and pleasing way. Below him, grazing in the field, 
are herds of fat, fine, sleek horses, cattle, hogs and 
sheep, but the bird pays no attention to them; they 
do not offer what he is looking for. Presently he 
turns his attention to a particular spot in the distance, 
and directs his course thitherward and alights. If 
you approach that spot, you will find the bird upon 
a putrid carcass, gorging himself with rotten flesh — 
that is to his taste. The bird is a buzzard! This is 
a good illustration of people who criticize the church 
and church-members. They pass by scores of excellent 
people who are living soberly, righteously and godly 
in the world, and spend their criticisms upon a few 
who are coming short of Christian obligation. But 
the fact that Christians are watched by this class of 
critics should admonish them to walk circumspectly, 
and deny ungodliness and worldly lust. 

Next to these critics stand the disembodied spirits 
of wicked people, that are likewise interested spec- 
tators beholding the child of God in his efforts to 
run his race with patience and fortitude. It is impos- 
sible to tell the extent to which the spirits of the 
wicked dead are allowed to interfere in the lives of 
the living. It is reasonable to suppose that they are 
still concerned about the affairs of living people and 
seek to take part therein. Some good thinkers believe 
that the demons that were on earth when Jesus was 
here, and desired to enter into the bodies of living 
men and women, were spirits of wicked people who 
had died. It seems that these demons or disembodied 
spirits, if such they were, craved to be re-embodied, 
and so strong was their desire in this respect that 
they preferred the bodies of hogs to having no bodies 
at all, as is seen in the case of those that the Lord 



THE CHRISTIAN RACE 261 

expelled from the bodies of two Gadarenes. After 
these come fallen angels who kept not their first 
estate, but sinned against God and were expelled from 
the high and glorious courts of heaven, and are await- 
ing the condemnation of the judgment-day. These, 
too, are watching the Christian pilgrim as he struggles 
along the race-course of life, and are ready to gloat 
over any slip that the runner may chance to make, and 
declare the church to be a failure. 

Last of all comes Satan, the prince of darkness, 
who observes the runner's efforts with the most intense 
interest and the most consummate hatred, desiring 
his failure and anxious to do anything he possibly can 
to bring that to pass. And as God sends forth His 
angels to succor His children in their struggles and 
trials along the way, so may Satan dispatch his angels 
to trip them and try to cause them to fall. We can 
see what he is and what he is willing to do to thwart 
the purposes of God in the matter of human redemp- 
tion, from his effort with the Master Himself in the 
wilderness temptations. In that transaction his malev- 
olence stands out in bold relief, and exposes itself 
to the view of universal intelligence; and we may rest 
assured that, if our Lord did not escape the wicked 
designs of this supreme adversary of God and man, 
we can not hope to avoid his venomous assaults. 
Holy Scripture warns us that our ''adversary, the 
devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom 
he may devour,'' and we are admonished to be ''sober 
and watchful." And thus this "cloud of witnesses" 
is supposed to be made up of all the intelligent 
inhabitants of the universe. 

Now, while this striking figure no doubt represents 
a true state of the case, yet I do not think that this 



262 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

is the meaning of our text. I am persuaded that the 
word ''witnesses" is to be taken here in its active 
sense, indicating persons who bear testimony, and not 
mere spectators. This idea seems to inhere in the 
term used in the Greek, which is marturoon, from 
which comes our word ''martyr." It is a very active 
and energetic word and indicates intensity and stren- 
uosity on the part of the witnesses. No doubt the 
immediate reference is to the noble army of God's 
people mentioned and alluded to in the preceding 
chapter of this interesting and instructive letter to 
the Hebrews — the great faith chapter of the Bible. 
These witnesses testify to us that this race, howevei: 
difficult and strenuous it may be, can be run success- 
fully, and they testify out of their own experimental 
knowledge. As we bend our energies to the task in 
hand we may hear these witnesses telling us to be of 
good courage and press on, for they know that the 
race can be run triumphantly from the fact that they 
so ran it themselves, and are now basking in the 
sunbeams of the heavenly Father's smiles. This testi- 
mony imparts courage and inspires ambition on the 
part of those who are running, and prompts them to 
put forth the best possible efforts to succeed. When 
death snatches a babe from the arms of its mother 
and she sits beneath the willows weeping and nursing 
a broken heart, if a mother who has never lost a babe 
speaks words of comfort to the disconsolate one, that 
helps some; but it is not like it is if another mother 
who has also lost a babe offers to the freshly wounded 
heart the solace contained in words of sjnnpathy and 
condolence. She has passed under the same rod and 
tasted of the same cup, and her words are like oil 
upon troubled waters. 



THE CHRISTIAN RACE 263 

So it is with respect to the testimony which this 
cloud of witnesses bears to those who are running 
''the race that is set before them." They speak from 
experience and personally know whereof they affirm. 
A traveler is pursuing his journey to a distant land, 
and is footsore and weary, and sometimes almost ready 
to faint and fall by the way. He looks ahead and 
sees a range of mountains that lies across his pathway 
and over which he must pass to reach the land of 
his destination; and as he gazes upon the lofty peaks 
and craggy sides of the frowning mountains, ' his heart 
sinks within him and he says: "I can never surmount 
those difficulties, and I may as well give up the race and 
lay the burden down here and now." But just at this 
critical juncture he lifts his eyes towards the moun- 
tain peaks and sees upon the summits thereof a com- 
pany of people with palms of victory in their hands 
and songs of triumph upon their lips; and, listening, 
he discovers that they are exhorting him to press for- 
ward, assuring him that they traveled the same road, 
encountered the same difficulties, contended with the 
same trials, and triumphed gloriously in the end. 
There is that in the human breast which prompts 
an individual with some ambition to say, "What 
others have done, I can do," and so the weary 
traveler, electrified by the testimony of these witnesses, 
picks up fresh courage and presses on toward the goal. 
From crag to crag he makes his way up the moun- 
tainsides, keeping his eyes fixed upon the witnesses 
at the top, and his ears open to their words of encour- 
agement. Higher and still higher he rises, till by 
and by he feels the handclasp of those who had helped 
him with their stimulating testimony, and joins in 
their paeans of victory and shouts of triumph, and. 



264 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

with them singing as they go, he descends into the 
land of sunshine, flowers and joy. 

And so it is with the Christian as he runs the 
race that is set before him. He meets with many 
trials, difficulties and discouragements along the way, 
but he is "surrounded with a great cloud of wit- 
nesses'' who assure him out of their own experiences 
that he can achieve success through faith in God, who 
will give him grace and strength according to his 
needs. The circumstances and experiences of human 
life are practically the same in all ages, and history 
is continually repeating itself. The difficulties and 
trials that God's ancient servants had to encounter 
are about the same as those we have to meet, and 
their victories are full of encouragement to us in our 
struggles and toils. I know that sometimes we are 
inclined to think that our troubles are exceptionally 
great, and that our trials and temptations are greater 
than usually fall to the lot of man, but this is a 
grievous mistake. Hear the following words from the 
apostle Peter: ''Beloved, think it not strange concern- 
ing the fiery trial among you, which cometh upon you 
to prove you, as though a strange thing happened to 
you'' (1 Pet. 4:12). These Jewish Christians were 
scattered abroad by persecution, and they thought 
that their lot was exceptionally severe, \mt Peter 
tells them that they were only suffering the common 
lot of Christian people, and should not allow their 
trials to depress them overmuch. 

But let us now examine the testimony of some of 
these witnesses who bear witness to the sufficiency of 
faith in God to enable His children to run the race 
of divine service successfully. Sometimes one is called 
upon to run this race under circumstances of embar- 



THE CHRISTIAN RACE 265 

rassment growing out of loneliness and isolation. A 
Christian finds himself surrounded by people who 
know not God and care nothing for His service. They 
are worldly people who are devoted to the things of 
the world and take no interest in matters pertaining 
to the kingdom of God, and they create a community 
atmosphere that is depressing, and the Christian racer 
feels that he is running against the tide of public 
opinion, and is liable to become discouraged almost to 
the point of giving up the race. Such a person needs 
the testimony of some one who has encountered and 
overcome similar difficulties, and such a witness is 
found in the person of Noah, and we place him upon 
the witness-stand for interrogation. Noah, do you 
know anything about serving God in the midst of a 
community that ignored God and set him at naught? 
*'Yes,'' says the witness, ''I know a great deal about 
that.'' Well, Noah, teU us about it. And Noah 
relates the following thrilling story: 

**I lived at a time when the reign of wickedness 
was supreme, and the earth was filled with violence, 
and God determined to destroy man, whom He had 
created, from the face of the ground. I and my 
family, eight of us in all, were the only ones that 
feared God and lived uprightly, and the Lord planned 
to save us while He destroyed aU the rest. He com- 
manded me to build an ark, giving plans and specifi- 
cations in careful detail. I went to my task in the 
midst of a crooked and perverse generation who hooted 
at the idea that the race was to be practically exter- 
minated. They laughed and jeered and mocked as I 
went about my work from day to day. I was about 
six hundred years old then, and the people would 
talk among themselves and say, 'The old man is beside 



266 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

himself. He has a cranky notion that there is going 
to be a mighty flood that will sweep mankind from 
the face of the earth, and he is working on a boat 
out yonder, in which he and his family are to be 
saved while all the rest of ns are to be drowned,' 
and then would follow a tremendous guffaw." 
''Well, Noah, how long did that go on?" 
''About a hundred and twenty years." 
"Didn't you sometimes become discouraged and 
feel like giving up your task and going with the 
crowd?" 

"No, I never faltered for a moment, for I had a 
strong conviction that just what God had said He 
would bring to pass, and that I would be fully vindi- 
cated in the end." 

"Well, Noah, how did it turn out?" 
"It turned out precisely according to the words 
that the Lord had spoken. The ark was finally com- 
pleted and I and my family went into it, took with 
us such things as God told us to take, and closed the 
door, leaving the ungodly world to perish in its wick- 
edness. Soon the rain began to fall, and the streams 
commenced to overflow their banks, and still it rained 
on. At first the people made a joke of it, and laugh- 
ingly made funny remarks about what old man Noah 
had said about a destructive flood. But the rain 
continued to descend, and the water spread out over 
the land in every direction, and the people began 
to take on a sober look, and to speak respectfully 
about Noah and his boat, and to wonder if they were 
all really to be destroyed. Higher and still higher 
the waters rose, and the people became panic-stricken, 
and were smitten with the most awful terror. And 
still the rain continued to fall, and the waters pre- 



THE CHRISTIAN RACE 267 

vailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high 
mountains that were under the whole heaven were 
covered. Fifteen cubits upward did the waters pre- 
vail, and the mountains were covered. And all flesh 
that moved upon the earth, both fowl and cattle and 
beast, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon 
the earth, and every man — all in whose nostrils was 
the breath of the spirit of life, of all that was in the 
dry land — died. But the ark rode the rolling billows 
triumphantly, and after awhile the waters abated and 
the ark made a safe landing, and its occupants came 
out wearing a crown of glory. I ran with patience 
the race that was set before me, reached the goal 
victoriously, and took possession of a new world." 

Hear this testimony, you who are lonely and weary, 
and take courage. 

It not unfrequently happens that Christians have 
to run this race under circumstances of discourage- 
ment growing out of bodily affliction, and to such the 
testimony of some conspicuous servant of God, who 
has passed through the waters of bodily suffering, will 
be helpful. In such a case Job will make an excellent 
witness, and so we put him on the stand for examina- 
tion. 

''Job, have you any personal knowledge of bodily 
suffering while serving God?" 

''Yes," says Job; "I was a victim of severe bodily 
affliction at one time in my life." 

"Well, Job, tell us about it." 

"Gladly will I do so," says our witness. "I was 
a strong, healthy, athletic man, but was suddenly 
stricken with boils, and became a mass of putrefaction 
from the crown of my head to the soles of my feet, 
and I suffered the most excruciating pain continually." 



268 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

''Well, Job, I suppose you liad friends who com- 
forted you in your affliction/' 

''"Well," says Job, "there were folks who said 
they were my friends, and one time three of them 
came to see me, and when they saw me they were 
dumfounded, and they sat around my tent seven days 
without saying a word to me." 

Let us pause upon this item of Job's testimony 
to study the reason for this silence on the part of 
the sick man's friends. The idea generally prevailed 
at that time that people brought affliction upon them- 
selves by sinning against God, and as they had always 
taken Job to be a righteous man, they could not recon- 
cile his affliction with their philosophy, and hence their 
confusion. There was a tumult of emotions in their 
minds, but at last their philosophy triumphed, and 
they railed out upon the unfortunate sufferer, prac- 
tically saying, "You old hypocrite you, your sins 
have found you out. While you have been pretending 
to be righteous, you have been secretly doing wickedly, 
and God has laid His chastising hand upon you for 
it." Miserable comforters were they indeed. 

"But, Job, I suppose your wife stood by you and 
was a source of comfort to you in your affliction." 

"My wife was a good woman, and it broke her 
heart to see me suffer so, and she came into my tent 
one day all broken up, and said, 'Job, curse God and 
die. You have done something to offend God, and He 
has almost killed you for it; now curse Him and so 
anger Him that He will slay you, and thus you will 
escape your fearful suffering." 

Job's wife was dominated by the same philosophy 
in regard to bodily affliction that controlled Job's 
friends. 



THE CHRISTIAN RACE 269 

''Well, Job, did you continue in the service of God 
under all these afflictions and discouragements?** 

''Yes, I knew in whom I had believed, and I felt 
assured that He would in due time drive the clouds 
of adversity away, cause the sun of peace and pros- 
perity to shine upon my pathway, and shield me from 
the shafts of my slanderers. And so it turned out. 
I got well, and became the same strong, hearty, 
athletic man that I was before. I ran with patience 
the race that was set before me, and received the 
crown of victory." 

Heed this testimony, ye children of affliction, and 
pick up courage. 

Occasionally Christians suffer the loss of property, 
and become discouraged thereby and give up the race. 
Perhaps more of God's children break down at this 
point than at any other. I have known some instances 
in which men seemed to be faithful disciples of Christ 
as long as their worldly affairs prospered, but when 
adversity overtook them and they lost their property, 
they turned away from the Lord and gave up His 
service. It is under just such circumstances that we 
should be most faithful to the good Lord, and strive 
to get closer to Him so as to receive the protection 
of His overshadowing wing. We have His promise 
that He will never leave us nor forsake us, and we 
can put the most implicit confidence in His pledge, 
and stand firm in His service. Storms may howl, seas 
roar, and billows roll, but God's promise is an anchor 
to the soul that holds it steady in the midst of it all. 

But while Job is on the stand let us interrogate 
Mm on this point. 

*'Job, did you ever suffer the loss of property and 
pass from wealth to poverty?" 



270 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

''Yes, I fell out of the lap of luxury into the arms 
of penury and want. I was rich in herds and flocks, 
man-servants and maid-servants, and fared sumptu- 
ously every day. I had wherewith to gratify every 
wish and satisfy every desire. I feasted upon the 
daintiest viands the land afforded, and clothed myself 
in gorgeous apparel, and whatever I craved was at 
my command. But presently marauding bands of 
depredators came through the country and drove off 
my oxen and asses, and killed my servants that had 
charge of them. And there came similar bands and 
took possession of my camels and slew the servants 
that were keeping them. And there came an electrical 
storm and burnt up my sheep and the servants that 
were tending them, and so I was shorn of all my 
possessions in a little while, and was hurled into the 
depths of povety.'' 

"And, Job, did you continue faithful in the ser- 
vice of God in the midst of all these distresses?" 

"I did. I knew that my Redeemer lived, and that 
He would not abandon me to my sorrows. His rod 
and staff supported me, and enabled me to patiently 
endure my misfortunes, and by and by He reimbursed 
me for all my losses, and again poured out the con- 
tents of the horn of plenty into my lap." 

Give ear to that testimony, you children of God 
whom financial disaster overtakes and robs of your 
worldly possessions. Put your trust in God and 
persevere in His service, and He will see you through 
your troubles. 

Sometimes a Christian feels handicapped in this 
race by sorrow resulting from the death of friends, 
and while Job is on the witness-stand we will question 
him in this regard. 



THE CHRISTIAN RACE 271 

**Job, did you ever lose a dear friend by death 
and carry a broken heart in consequence thereof?" 

"Yes," says the witness, "I had an unusual expe- 
rience in that respect. I had a fine set of sons and 
daughters who were settled round about me, and we 
were extremely happy as father and children. But 
one time when they were all together in the house 
of the oldest brother, having a good time, there came 
a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four 
corners of the house and it fell upon them and killed 
them all. A messenger came with the news, not that 
one of my children had met with an accident and was 
dead, but that they had all lost their lives in the 
fearful catastrophe; and thus was I bereft of all my 
children by one fell stroke of the hand of death, and 
was left to nurse a lacerated heart as best I could." 

"Job, did you still continue in the race under this 
awful shadow?" 

"Yes, I knew that He who had been with me in six 
troubles would not forsake me in the seventh, and I 
could by faith hear His gentle voice bidding me be 
of good courage, and feel His encircling arm pressing 
me close to His bosom. After awhile the clouds began 
to break away, and I found God a very present help 
in my time of need. By and by other children came, 
and I was restored to my former condition of joy and 
happiness. I ran with patience the race that was set 
before me, and I now hold in my hand the victor's 
palm." 

Hear these words, you who are distressed on 
account of the loss of dear friends, and nerve your- 
selves for the race that is before you. 

"And what shall I more say? for the time will 
fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Sampson, Jephthah; 

18 



272 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

of David and Samuel and the prophets: who through 
faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, ob- 
tained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched 
the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, 
from weakness were made strong, waxed mighty in 
war, turned to flight armies of aliens. Women received 
their dead by a resurrection: and others were tortured, 
not accepting their deliverance; that they might obtain 
a better resurrection: and others had trial of mock- 
ings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and 
imprisonment: they were stoned, they were sawn 
asunder, they were tempted, they were slain with the 
sword: they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins; 
being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated (of whom the world 
was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains 
and caves, and holes of the earth/' What a splendid 
array of witnesses who testify to us out of their 
varied and severe experiences that they ran their 
race successfully in spite of wonderful afflictions and 
misfortunes that befell them. We may bless God that 
we have no such crosses to bear, and at the same 
time praise Him for these examples of heroism, 
fidelity and perseverance in the service of the good 
Lord. 

But the chief witness is to come yet: ** Looking 
unto Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith, 
who for the joy that was set before him endured 
the cross, despising the shame, and hath sat down at 
the right hand of the throne of God." We may give 
our ears to the testimony of human witnesses and 
hear what they have to say, and gather comfort and 
inspiration from their triumphs; but we are to keep 
our eyes fixed upon Him who speaks to us from the 
cross of Calvary, where He was even forsaken by His 



THE CHRISTIAN RACE 273 

heavenly Father. Here in this supreme tragedy of 
the universe we see a most astonishing thing — a thing 
that must have seemed strange in the eye of universal 
intelligence. Jesus Christ, the only begotten and 
well-beloved Son of Jehovah, is forsaken by His Father 
and left to tread the fierceness of the wine-press of 
the Almighty's wrath alone! All of His disciples 
had abandoned Him and fled, and while this was 
a source of great grief to Him, yet He could bear 
that with marvelous resignation. But now to be for- 
saken in the supreme hour of His need and agony 
by Him who had been His stay and support up to 
that point, was something inexpressibly sorrowful. 
No wonder it broke His great heart, and wrung from 
Him the sky-smiting cry, ''My God, my God, why 
hast tliou forsaken me?" That was a part, and per- 
haps the most important part, of the death that He 
died for the sins of the world. Death means separa- 
tion from the source of life, and when God forsook 
His Son separation took place between the two, result- 
ing in death to the Son. That cry of agony was not 
answered in words, but its answer is written in plain 
letters on the very surface of the gospel of the grace 
of God. There the Father says: ''My Son, I must 
forsake you in this your darkest hour, or forsake man- 
kind forever." Wonderful to tell! God turns His 
back upon His Son, that He may turn His face toward 
a sinful and lost race! Wonder of wonders! Marvel 
of marvels! 

The Lord Jesus Christ was the only one of God's 
children that He ever did or ever will forsake. He 
has always been with His adopted children as a very 
present help in their times of need, to comfort, 
strengthen and deliver them from all their troubles, 



274 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

and He has promised never to .eave or forsake them, 
although He did forsake His spiritualistically natural 
Son. Is it any wonder that an inspired writer admon- 
ishes us to fix our eyes with set gaze upon this 
supreme witness in the great cloud of witnesses that 
surrounds us as we run the race set before us? The 
same writer, in immediate connection with our text, 
exhorts us thus: ''For consider him that hath endured 
such gainsaying of sinners against himself, that ye 
wax not weary, fainting in your souls. Ye have 
not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin." 
We have a fine illustration of the importance of keep- 
ing our eyes upon Jesus, and the danger of looking 
away from Him, in what occurred with the apostle 
Peter on a certain occasion. 

After feeding a great multitude of people mirac- 
ulously, the Master commanded Peter and some others 
to get in a boat and go to the other side of the lake 
while He sent the multitude away, and, having done 
this, He went up into a mountain to pray. While He 
was thus engaged, a storm overtook the boat in which 
Peter and his companions were sailing, and their lives 
were in jeopardy. The Lord saw them, as He always 
sees His disciples when they are in trouble. It is a 
blessed thought that no Christian's heart aches but 
that the Lord knows it — that no barque in which a 
child of God is sailing the waters of life is tempest- 
tossed but that the Lord sees it. Not only did the 
Master see that boat as it toiled against wind and 
wave, and know that its occupants were in distress, 
but He started to them, and He always does that too. 
He walked down the mountainside, strode across the 
narrow plain, and encountered the turbulent waters 
of the angry lake. Did He stop or hesitate? Not for 



THE CHRISTIAN RACE 275 

a moment. Neither mountains, plains, rivers, lakes 
nor seas present any insurmountable obstacle between 
Him and His people when they are in trouble. He 
boldly stepped out upon the raging water and walked 
upon it to go to His frightened disciples in the boat. 
When He drew near, the disciples saw Him and took 
Him for a ghost, as they believed in such apparitions, 
and they cried out for fear. But they heard the 
gentle voice of their Lord, saying: ''It is I, be not 
afraid." Thus assured, impulsive Peter said: ''Lord, 
if it be thou, bid me come unto thee upon the waters." 
Poor, impulsive, fickle Peter! When the Lord said, 
"Come," "Peter went down from the boat, and 
walked upon the waters to come to Jesus." He took 
a few steps successfully, "but when he saw the wind" 
he got scared and began to sink. As long as he 
kept his eyes on Jesus he walked the waters in 
triumph, but when he turned his eyes away from the 
Master to consider the wind and the waves, he began 
to sink as an inevitable consequence. When troubles 
assail us and we begin to nurse them in our hearts and 
forget Jesus, down we begin to go! Peter bethought 
himself in time to turn his eyes back to Jesus and 
cry out, "Lord, save me" — just exactly the thing for 
Peter to do, and just exactly the thing for us to do 
when the billows of trouble are surging about us. 
The compassionate Master heeded His disciple's 
prayer, as He always does, and took hold of Peter, 
and, with a gentle rebuke for his lack of faith, He 
restored him to the boat, and "the wind ceased." 
Oh, what a willing and able Friend we have in Jesus, 
who cares for His people and will not allow bhem to 
be burdened above what they can bear if they put 
their trust in Him. 



276 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

Our Exemplar ran the race that was set before 
Him, and He ran it triumphantly, ''despising the 
shame'' involved in the death of the cross, all "for 
the joy that was set before him" — ^the joy of doing 
the will of the F?ther and redeeming the human race 
from sin and eternal death. From this point of view 
we can see the force and beauty of this Scripture: 
''Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ 
Jesus, who, existing in the form of God, counted not 
the being on an equality with God a thing to be 
grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a 
servant, being made in the likeness of men; and being 
found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, becom- 
ing obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the 
cross. Wherefore also God highly exalted him, and 
gave unto him the name which is above every name; 
that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, 
of things in heaven and things on earth and things 
under the earth, and that every tongue should con- 
fess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God 
the Father" (Phil. 2:5-11). Perhaps the phrase "to 
be clung to" would come a little nearer expressing the 
exact thought of the apostle, than "to be grasped." 
Christ was on an equality with God in heaven, but, 
seeing the human family in ruin, without God and 
without hope, He said: "I must not cling to the honor 
and glory that I have here, and allow the race of 
man to perish forever. I must go to their rescue and 
make a way for their escape at whatever cost on my 
part it may involve. I will take the form of a ser- 
vant, and be made in fashion as a man, and suffer 
the agonies of the cross, that men may have life, and 
have it for evermore." All this He did for the joy 
of unselfishly serving others, thus teaching us that 



THE CHRISTIAN RACE 277 

the way to be happy ourselves is to make others 
happy. And thus the Master ran the race that was 
set before Him, and ran it successfully, overcoming 
aU difficulties, and so sat down at the right hand 
of the throne of God; and He says to us: ''He that 
overcometh, I will give to him to sit down with me 
in my throne, as I also overcame, and sat down with 
my Father in his throne." What encouragement and 
what a prize! 

I close with the following thought: This race is 
''set before us," and we do not have to arrange it 
for ourselves. God marks out the race-course, and 
says, "This is the way, walk you in it," and that 
indicates our part in the matter. The good Lord has 
given us the New Testament as an all-sufficient guide 
in running our race, and it is our duty to follow that 
strictly, and in so doing we are sure to reach the 
goal and wear the crown of righteousness. Here is 
something that appeals to the very best that is in a 
Christian, and it certainly should incite him to put 
forth his best efforts to come off a triumphant con- 
queror and enter into the glory of the Lord. Let us 
then strive to lay aside every besetting weight that 
we may run this race without handicap, and in the 
end sit down with our blessed Lord in the throne of 
His glory. 



GOD'S PRECIOUS AND EXCEEDING 
GREAT PROMISES 

A SERMON 

Text. — ''Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, 
to them that have obtained a like precious faith with us in the 
righteousness of God and the Saviour Jesus Christ: Grace to 
you and peace be multiplied in the knowledge of God and of 
Jesus our Lord; seeing that his divine power hath granted 
unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through 
the knowledge of him that called us by his own glory and 
virtue; whereby he hath granted unto us his precious and 
exceeding great promises; that by these ye may become par- 
takers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption 
that is in the world by lust."— 2 Pet. 1: 1-4. 

IT is remarkable what a large place promises occupy 
in the ongoing of the affairs of the world, and in 
the solution of the problems of human life. We see 
it in childhood. If a parent promises a child a nice 
present on birthday or Christmas Day, the child 
derives great satisfaction from that promise, and the 
reception of the thing promised is anticipated with 
exquisite joy. Perhaps a young man never experi- 
ences a more pleasurable moment than when his 
sweetheart promises to marry him, and in that promise 
he lives and moves and has his being, and upon it 
he founds his hope for the future. And when the 
nuptials are consummated, the mutual promises that 
are made at the marriage altar become the basis of 
fond anticipations of happiness in the years to come. 
I hold in my hand a little piece of paper which, as 

278 



GOD'S PRECIOUS PROMISES 279 

paper, is almost worthless. But it is a promissory 
note which says, '^The United States will pay the 
bearer one dollar," and that promise makes the piece 
of paper worth one dollar in gold; and such promis- 
sory notes constitute the basis upon which the business 
of the country is conducted. The promises of the 
Government are as good as gold, and upon them the 
commerce of the land is floated. Men invest their 
money in United States bonds, which are simply 
promises to pay, and feel as safe as if they had the 
coin in their hands. We could not get along with- 
out promises. 

The most important and precious possessions that 
men can have in this world are the promises of the 
gospel of the grace of God, and without these the 
world would be dark and gloomy indeed, and the 
question, *'Is life worth living?" would have to be 
answered in the negative. Without such promises 
Y\e could have no hope with respect to the great 
future that stretches out before us, and life would 
be an intolerable burden. Even when men lose hope 
with respect to this life they sometimes seek relief 
in suicide. God's promises have reference to both 
time and eternity, and hence cover the whole period 
of human existence, as is clearly set forth in the fol- 
lowing Scripture: ''And exercise thyself unto godli- 
ness: for bodily exercise is profitable for a little; but 
godliness is profitable for all things, having promise 
of the life which now is, and of that which is to 
come" (1 Tim. 4:7, 8). The promises of the gospel 
embrace the very best that is' possible in this life, and 
presents to the eye of faith the glories of the eternal 
world as an attainable possession. Is not this a 
precious and exceeding great promise? 



280 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

In close connection with our text, Peter, having 
instructed his readers how to build up a Christian 
character, says: *' Wherefore, brethren, give the more 
diligence to make your calling and election sure: for 
if you do these things, ye shall never stumble: for 
thus shall be richly supplied unto you the entrance 
into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour 
Jesus Christ/' Here is a promise of great precious- 
ness to the child of God as he makes his way through 
this world, frequently along paths that are rough and 
thorny. The promise of a triumphant entrance into 
a kingdom of unending beauty and glory, where 
nothing can interrupt his peace and joy, fills him with 
a bliss that is unspeakable and full of satisfaction. 
In the possession of this promise the prospective heir 
of God realizes in his experience the blessed assurance 
contained in these words: 

**From every stormy wind that blows, 
From every swelling tide of woes, 
There is a calm, a sure retreat, 
'Tis found beneath the mercy-seat.'* 

On the isle of Patmos John saw some visions that 
are full of precious and exceeding great promises to 
the Christian pilgrim as he trudges along the path- 
way of life. Consider the following: ''And I saw a 
new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and 
the first earth are passed away; and the sea is no 
more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, 
coming down out of heaven from God, made ready 
as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a 
great voice out of the throne saying, Behold, the 
tabernacle of God is with men, and God himself shall 
be with them, and be their God: and he shall wipe 



GOD'S PRECIOUS PROMISES 281 

away every tear from their eyes; and death shall be 
no more; neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, 
nor pain, any more: the first things are passed away. 
And he that sitteth on the throne said, Behold, I 
make all things new" (Rev. 21:1-5). 

What a rich cluster of precious promises this 
passage contains! There is the promise of a new 
heaven and a new earth, and Peter tells us that in 
this new heaven and new earth righteousness shall 
dwell, the idea being that righteousness alone shall 
dwell there to the exclusion of all unrighteousness. 
Righteousness dwells in this old earth, but so does 
unrighteousness, and they are very close neighbors. 
They dwell together in the same city, on the same 
street, in the same house, and even in the same heart, 
and the presence of unrighteousness here is the cause 
of all the unhappiness and sorrow that we experience. 
The prospect of an earth free from all unrighteousness, 
and full of the glory of the Lord, gives the soul a 
thrill that can not be expressed in words. And such 
an earth is to be the home of the saints of the Most 
High, and He shall dwell with them and be their 
God. ** Praise God, from whom all blessings flow," 
expresses the sentiments of every heart that feels the 
tender touch of the fingers of divine love, and looks 
forward to the occupancy of such a home. ''He that 
overcometh shall inherit these things," and partake 
of the ''fountain of the water of life freely." 

And God "shall wipe away every tear from their 
eyes." How often have you felt the scalding tears 
running down your cheeks, wrung from your heart by 
the cruel hand of bitter grief! Yea, many times have 
you felt that you were struggling in a sea of tears, 
battling with its waves, and longing for a haven of 



282 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

rest and peace where ''the wicked cease from trou- 
bling, and the weary find rest to their souls." Such 
a haven belongs not to this world of sorrow and 
anguish, but thanks be to the God and Father of 
our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the gospel brings 
to view a new heaven and a new earth to which 
tears are total strangers, and where joy reigns for- 
ever more. And blessed be the name of the good 
Lord, His grace has made it possible for the children 
of this sin-cursed earth to attain to that delightful 
and happy abode. To such a home we may look even 
through our tears, and rejoice in hope of the glory 
of God, and through our tears the bow of peace 
becomes visible and gives promise of a better day. 
It is only when the clouds are weeping that the 
beautiful rainbow makes its appearance upon the face 
of the sky as ''a thing of beauty, and a joy forever,'* 
recalling God's promise not to destroy the world again 
with a flood. And when we weep, the eye of faith 
may see through our tears the bow of promise and 
hope, and find comfort in the pledge that God will 
by and by brush away our tears, and allow us to 
bask in the sunbeams of His glory world without end. 
*'And death shall be no more." And may we 
hope for a time when there shall be no death, and 
a world in which the grim monster shall have no 
sway? Death has turned this world of ours into a 
vast graveyard, and hung a pall of gloom over our 
present abode. Who has not felt its sting and 
writhed under its merciless blows? It came into 
this world on mischief bent, and has carried on a 
carnival of slaughter throughout the history of our 
race. It breaks family ties, and ruthlessly snaps 
asunder the tender ties that bind hearts together. 



GOD'S PRECIOUS PROMISES 283 

Its frosts nip the tender buds of hope that appear 
upon the parent stems, and cause them to wither and 
die in the arms of love and affection, thus breaking 
hearts and blighting prospects that were a source 
of joy and bliss, and turning a smiling sky into a 
frowning cloud of sorrow and disappointment. It 
turns the sweet and melodious music of the home into 
harsh discords, and converts laughter into cries of 
anguish and woe. We witness its devastations 'on 
every hand. There are the graves of fathers and 
mothers, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, 
friends and neighbors. There lie the remains of 
those who were bone of our bone, and flesh of our 
flesh, and whose lives were as dear to us as our own. 
They were smitten down by the hand of death in 
our presence, and we were unable to do anything to 
avert the blow, though gladly would we have done it 
if possible. But the farewell had to be spoken, and 
the cold and lifeless forms of the loved ones had to 
be consigned to the gloomy and silent grave, and 
there they lie enswathed in the habiliments of death. 
Death! I hate it! Why should I not? It slew 
my mother, and struck down my life companion. 
Ten of the eleven children of my parents have fallen 
victims of its insatiate greed, and I only am left, 
and it seeks my life. Well do I remember the night 
when as a lad I was aroused from my peaceful slum- 
ber by a messenger who said: ''Get up, little sister 
is dying." I arose and entered the sick-chamber, and 
there sat my mother by the side of the little crib in 
which lay the dying and wasted form of baby sister, 
nursing a breaking heart while her eyes sent showers 
of scalding tears down her blessed cheeks. In a little 
while the sweet baby breathed her last, and we took 



284 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

her remains to the graveyard and reluctantly com- 
mitted them to the embrace of the tomb, and returned 
to a home made dark by the shadow of death. On 
the same night of the next week, about the same hour 
of the night, the same messenger again aroused me, 
saying, "Get up, little brother is dying;" and I arose 
to pass through the same bitter experiences as the 
week before. That was a long time ago, but the 
memory of those experiences pierces my heart with 
pain to this day, and I take pleasure in hating the 
cruel thing that broke the family circle in the long 
ago. 

Death is spoken of in the Scriptures as an enemy, 
and never as a friend, and its work is that of a most 
malignant foe; and how I thank God for the con- 
soling assurance that the reign of this enemy is by 
and by to come to an end. The promise that **the 
last enemy that shall be destroyed is death" fills my 
heart with rapturous joy, and furnishes some com- 
pensation for sorrows that this relentless enemy has 
sent into my life. The king of terrors and the terror 
of kings is finally to abdicate his throne, and yield 
up his scepter to my gracious Friend who has power 
over death and the grave, and has brought life and 
immortality to light through His resurrection from 
the dead. How I rejoice that this great Napoleon 
of the kingdom of darkness is by and by to come 
to his Waterloo, meet his Wellington, and go down 
in irretrievable defeat. Then we may sing with 
Isaiah and Paul: ''Death is swallowed up in victory. 
death, where is thy victory? death, where is 
thy sting?" ''And death shall be no more." What 
a precious and exceeding great promise. 



GOD'S PRECIOUS PROMISES 285 

** Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor 
pain, any more." These words are freighted with 
hope and consolation that the world can neither give 
nor take away. They are parts of the glorious inher- 
itance of those who are heirs of God and joint-heirs 
with Jesus Christ, our divine Lord and Master. 
Mourning constitutes quite a factor in our experiences 
in this life. How often are we called upon to sit 
beneath the willows, and mourn and groan under the 
weight of grief and sorrow! I remember the time, 
and so do you, when heart-strings broke, and the 
shadows of mourning hovered over us, and things 
seemed dark and gloomy. Then human words of 
comfort helped some, but oh, how far short they fell 
of binding up the broken heart and healing the 
wounded spirit! Look when and where you will, 
you see evidences of grief and mourning, and listen 
at any time, and you will hear the wail of sorrow. 
Often does it happen that life is one great sigh from 
the cradle to the grave, and the shadow of sorrow 
stretches itself all along the way from birth to death. 
In view of this background, how sweet the promise 
that mourning shall be no more, and that it shall 
give place to everlasting rejoicing! 

**Nor crying, nor pain, any more.'' Many times 
our eyes grow red with weeping and we are racked 
with pain at almost every turn in the road. You 
have experienced it, and so have I. It is the common 
lot of mankind, and there are no exemptions. The 
head aches, and the body suffers excruciating pain, 
and the coveted relief comes not. AU the night long 
you are tossed by pain upon a sleepless couch, and 
wish for the day whose light will bring no relief. 
And bad as bodily pains are, there are pains and 



286 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

aches that are worse and harder to bear. Heartaches 
are worse than headaches, and spirit wounds are worse 
than bodily injuries. Pain, pain, pain! They come 
one after another in rapid succession, and there is 
no escaping them here below. But we have the glori- 
ous promise that there will come a time when there 
will be no more crying nor pain, and when crowns 
of thorns shall give place to crowns of glory, and 
this promise inspires our hearts with that hope which 
is an anchor to the soul, and which paints the great 
future in the gorgeous colors of magnificent beauty. 
Our text assures us that through these promises 
we are made partakers of the divine nature, and this 
assurance emphasizes their preciousness and greatness. 
To become a partaker of the divine nature is certainly 
a result to be devoutly prayed and labored for, and 
its attainableness appeals to the very best that is in 
us in the way of serving God, and brings into activity 
the noblest energies and ambitions of our being. The 
very essence of the divine nature is holiness, and the 
more holy one becomes the more does one partake 
of the divine nature. It has been said that the 
promises of God inspire in the human heart the hope 
of immortality and eternal life, and they also present 
the prospect of dwelling with God forever in the 
regions of light and glory; and John tells us that 
*' every one that hath this hope set on him purifieth 
himself, even as he is pure." The hope of immediate 
and personal association and fellowship with God 
prompts one to strive to adorn one's self with a 
character similar to that of the heavenly Father, for 
without such a character such association and fellow- 
ship would not be enjoyable even if it were possible. 
The uncouth mountaineer in his homespun garb would 



GOD^S PRECIOUS PROMISES 287 

not feel at home with cultured and reiined people in 
silks and satins. No more would one with an onsavory 
character feel at home with God and His holy angels, 
and hence the hope of entering into the society of 
heaven stimulates one to array one's self with such 
a character as wiU make such society congenial to one. 
But this hope is based upon the promises of God, and 
it is thus that through these promises we become 
partakers of the divine nature. 

The philosophy of worship is that it tends to 
assimilate the character of the worshiper to the char- 
acter, real or supposed, of the object worshiped. 
The worshipers of Mars, the supposed god of war, 
became warlike and bloodthirsty in their disposition, 
and delighted in meeting a foe on the field of battle. 
The worshipers of Bacchus, who was regarded as the 
god of wine, by such worship cultivated in themselves 
the passion for strong drink. The worshipers of 
Venus, the goddess of love, were voluptuous, and 
were strengthened in fleshly passions. This principle 
prevails in the spiritual world as well as in the mate- 
rial, and the worship of the true and living God 
constantly tends to make the worshiper like Him in 
all the elements of His character. Under the influ- 
ence of the worship of God a kind of spiritual meta- 
morphosis takes place in the worshiper whereby he 
takes on the divine nature and becomes like God in 
disposition and character. This is no doubt what 
Paul refers to in the following language: ''But we 
all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the 
glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same 
image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord 
the Spirit" (2 Cor. 3:18). Reflection and medita- 
tion upon divine things impart to the soul divine 

19 



288 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

characteristics, and change it into the image of the 
divine Being who sums up in Himself all that is 
excellent and glorious, and this presents to conscious- 
ness a most powerful incentive to set one's affections 
upon things in heaven rather than upon things on 
the earth. 

This idea of transformation and conformation is 
presented in the twelfth chapter of Romans, first and 
second verses, as " follows : ' ' I beseech you therefore, 
brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your 
bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, 
which is your spiritual service. And be not fashioned 
according to this world: but be ye transformed by the 
renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is 
the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.'* 
This passage sets forth the wonderful power of the 
gospel of the Son of God in molding human character 
and directing the course of human life. Thinking 
upon the divine things that are contained in great 
and precious promises renews the mind and impresses 
upon it the image of the God and Father of our Lord 
and Saviour Jesus Christ, and transforms it more and 
more into the likeness of the great Head of the 
church. Thinking upon earthly things makes the 
mind earthly and devilish, and thinking upon heavenly 
and divine things makes the mind heavenly and divine, 
with the result that it approves (a better word than 
** prove") what is the good and acceptable and perfect 
will of God. Being thus re-created in the image of 
God, the soul is in perfect accord with the divine will, 
and strives to govern itself accordingly. Being made 
a partaker of the divine nature, the divine will 
becomes the guiding hand that directs the renewed 
man day by day, and there is sweet fellowship between 



GOD'S PRECIOUS PROMISES 289 

him and the God of peace and mercy. The man who 
is reconciled to God by the death of His Son approves 
the divine law in all things, and strives to make it 
the rule of his life continually. The hope inspired in 
his heart by the precious promises of the gospel 
prompts him to labor to perfect the image of the 
Lord of glory in his life and character. It is only 
the wiUful violator of the law of God who quarrels 
with it, and seeks to get it out of his way, while he 
who accepts that law as the standard of his life 
approves it and strives to honor it, glorying in its 
requirements and rejoicing in its promises. 

Just before Jesus was taken from the earth He 
made His disciples, who were greatly disturbed over 
the prospect of being separated from Him, the follow- 
ing blessed promise: "Let not your heart be troubled: 
believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's 
house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would 
have told you, for I go to prepare a place for you. 
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I come 
again, and will receive you unto myself; that where 
I am, there you may be also" (John 14:1-3). It is 
most delightful to dwell upon this promise, and revel 
in the blessed anticipation of being with the dear 
Lord throughout eternity. The Master, having died 
for our sins, and risen again for our justification, is 
now engaged in preparing places for us in the many- 
mansioned house of His Father and ours, that when 
we leave this world He may receive us unto Himself, 
and assign us unto everlasting habitations, where, 
with tearless eyes, we shall behold the beauty of the 
Lord, and enjoy the endless benedictions of Him who 
loved us and gave Himself up for us. The hope that 
is founded upon this promise is worth all the gold 



290 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

that this world holds, and infinitely more, and Chris- 
tian men and women should cling to it with unyield- 
ing tenacity. Simple faith in God's promises is a 
richer inheritance than all the kingdoms of the 
world and their glory, and it should be guarded with 
the utmost care. Take care of your faith in God 
and His word, my brother, and allow nothing to 
destroy or weaken it, for it is your stay in life, and 
will be your comfort in death. It was this faith that 
brought victory to those splendid servants of God of 
old, ''who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought 
righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths 
of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge 
of the sword, from weakness were made strong, waxed 
mighty in war, turned to flight armies of aliens. 
Women received their dead by a resurrection: and 
others were tortured, not accepting their deliverance; 
that they might obtain a better resurrection: and 
others had trials of mockings and scourgings, yea, 
moreover of bonds and imprisonment: they were 
stoned, they were sawn asunder, they were tempted, 
they were slain with the sword: they went about in 
sheepskins, in goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, ill- 
treated (of whom the world was not worthy), wan- 
dering in deserts and mountains and caves, and the 
holes of the earth." What but faith in God and His 
promises could have sustained those ancient servants 
of Jehovah in their afflictions and trials? Hold on to 
your faith and hope in God. 

In Eph. 4 : 20-24 Paul presents a thought that is 
very close akin to the one he offers in Rom. 12 : 2, 
to which we have just given attention. Hear him: 
*'But ye did not so learn Christ; if so be that ye 
heard him, and were taught in him, even as truth is 



GOD'S PRECIOUS PEOMISES 291 

in Jesus: that ye put away, as concerning your former 
manner of life, the old man, that waxeth corrupt 
after the lusts of deceit ; and that ye be renewed in 
the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man, 
that after God hath been created in righteousness 
and holiness of truth." Here we see the principle 
set forth in our text, at work in the re-creation of 
man, and endowing him with the divine nature. Sin 
marred the image of God as He imparted it to man 
in the Garden of Eden, and hence he needed to be 
made over that the divine image might be restored 
to him, and that he might again possess the divine 
nature, and the instrumentality that God ordained 
for the attainment of this sublime end is the gospel 
of promise and hope as presented in the New Testa- 
ment Scriptures. This re-creation has its inception 
in the mind, and works thence out into the life and 
character, thus bringing the whole man into captivity 
to the will of God, and establishing the most delight- 
ful harmony between the new creature and God the 
Creator. In this process of transformation the affec- 
tions are lifted from the things of earth and placed 
upon things in heaven, where Christ is seated at the 
right hand of God, and holy meditation upon these 
new objects of affection changes the soul into the 
image of divine things. Here we have an example 
of the working of natural law in the spiritual world, 
for God works through law everywhere and at all 
times. In the spiritual realm He works through 
spiritual laws, and these laws are as natural to that 
realm as the laws of the material world are to that 
realm. 

This idea of spiritual transformation, under the 
influence of reflection upon things embraced in the 



292 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

promises of God, is further developed in the following 
language: "Lie not one to another; seeing that ye 
have put off the old man with his doings, and have 
put on the new man, that is being renewed unto 
knowledge after the image of him that created him: 
where there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcision 
and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bondman, 
freeman; but Christ is all, and in all" (Col. 3:9-11). 
This renewing is ''unto knowledge after the image 
of him that created" the new man, and this brings 
in the study of the word of God as a factor in the 
process of renewal. It is a physiological fact that our 
fleshly nature and disposition are influenced by the 
character of the food and drink that we take into 
our systems, and it is no less true that our spiritual 
nature and disposition are influenced by the character 
of the spiritual food and drink upon which we sub- 
sist. Many a boy has been ruined by reading wild- 
West stories of adventure and daring which gave color 
to his ambition and determined the course of his life, 
and this should put parents on their guard as to the 
kind of reading-matter that gets into the hands of 
their children, both boys and girls, for the former are 
influenced by what they read, no less than the latter. 
From this viewpoint the beauty and force of the 
following Scripture can be seen and appreciated in 
all of its significance: ''Putting away therefore all 
wickedness, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, 
and all evil speakings, as newborn babes, long for the 
spiritual milk which is without guile, that ye may 
grow thereby unto salvation; if ye have tasted that 
the Lord is gracious: unto whom coming, a living 
stone, rejected indeed of men, but with God elect, 
precious, ye also, as living stones, are built up a 



GOD'S PRECIOUS PROMISES 293 

spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer pp 
spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus 
Christ" (1 Pet. 2:1-5). This spiritual milk is con- 
tained in the word of God, to which the apostle has 
just referred as ''abiding for ever," and as **the 
word of good tidings [the gospel] which was preached 
unto you." As material milk contains all the elements 
necessary to physical health and growth, so does the 
spiritual milk of the word of God contain all the 
elements necessary to spiritual health and growth, 
and, without this, spiritual development is impossible. 
As a hungry babe longs for the milk of its mother's 
breast, so should the child of God long for the milk 
of God's love, that He furnishes so abundantly in His 
precious word. How sweet and refreshing is the milk 
contained in the ' ' precious and exceeding great prom- 
ises" which we find in the inexhaustible mine of 
divine truth, and how it causes one to grow unto 
eternal salvation, and into the image of the heavenly 
Father, whose we are, and whom we serve. Through 
this milk we ''taste that the Lord is gracious," and 
are drawn closer and closer into His loving embrace. 
Paul brings out the transforming power of the 
gospel in 1 Cor. 15:48 and 49 thus: "As is the 
earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is 
the heavenly, such are they also who are heavenly. 
And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we 
shall also bear the image of the heavenly." This 
passage is in striking harmony with the general trend 
of Scripture teaching on the subject, and in view of 
this teaching Christian people may rejoice with a joy 
that is unspeakable and full of glory. As they bear 
the image of their earthly parents, so may they, and 
so do they, bear the image of the heavenly Parent, 



294 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

into wMch they grow by using the means of growth 
in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord. How 
diligent, then, should we be in the use of these essen- 
tial aids to our spiritual growth, that we may be 
changed into the image of the God and Father of 
our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, that by and by 
we may see Him as He is and be like Him. Such a 
promise enables us to even rejoice in tribulations, 
''knowing that tribulations work stedf astness ; and 
stedfastness, approvedness ; and approvedness, hope; 
and hope puts not to shame." How glorious and 
high is the plane upon which a Christian lives and 
moves and has his being, and what grand and splen- 
did prospects lure him on to still more exalted levels 
of living! Well might an apostle exclaim: ''For we 
know that if the earthly house of our tabernacle 
be dissolved, we have a building from God, a house 
not made with hands, eternal in the heavens" (2 
Cor. 1:1). 

The promises of God are absolutely sure of accom- 
plishment, and we can look forward to their redemp- 
tion with the utmost assurance, and upon them we 
can build our hopes for the future. When Abraham 
was old and his wife well stricken in years, God 
promised him a son through whom all the nations of 
the earth would be blessed, and the father of the 
faithful staggered not through unbelief, though all the 
probabilities, humanly speaking, were against him; 
and having patiently endured, he "received the prom- 
ise," and Isaac came into his tent and into his life, 
and became a wellspring of joy in his soul. And so 
with all the promises of God: they are "yea and 
amen in Christ Jesus," and are as certain to be ful- 
filled in due time as that Jehovah reigns in the 



GOD'S PRECIOUS PROMISES 295 

heavens. *'The Lord is not slack concerning his 
promise, as some count slackness," but will bring it 
to pass when His wisdom and good pleasure shall so 
determine, and we need have no fear of failure on 
His part, either from inability or unwillingness, for 
He is both willing and able to redeem His pledges. 
When we place our loved ones who have fallen asleep 
in Jesus in their graves, we are cheered and com- 
forted by the promise that they will by and by, under 
the mighty hand of God, come forth from their tombs 
with bodies fashioned like the glorified body of Christ, 
to enter into the eternal kingdom that God has pre- 
pared for those who love Him. This promise robs 
death of its sting, and, by anticipation, despoils the 
grave of its victory, and turns mourning into rejoic- 
ing. Then, Christian pilgrim, thank God and take 
courage, and press ''forward for the mark of the 
prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus," 
knowing that sooner or later you will hear the happy 
plaudit, ''Well done, good and faithful servant, enter 
into the joys of thy Lord!" 

FeUow-traveler to the judgment-bar of God, do 
you stand upon the top of this sunlit mountain of 
promise and hope, looking up to the Lamb of Calvary, 
and enjoying by anticipation a seat by the side of 
the Lord of glory? If not, why not? Surely God 
has done enough for you to induce you to fall in 
with the overtures of mercy, and set to your seal 
that God is true, by surrendering your heart and life 
to Him who died that you might have life, and have 
it to the full. Listen to the Master's blessed invita- 
tion: "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy 
laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon 
you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in 



296 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls/' The 
thing that this weary, sin-burdened world cries and 
sighs for most is rest — sweet, blessed rest; rest from 
burdens of heart and body; rest from care and 
anxiety; rest from pain and sorrow; rest from grief 
and disappointment; rest in the bosom of God in the 
regions of unending day. This rest may be had by 
heeding the blessed Lord's gracious invitation, and 
turning life over to Him who cares for His own, and 
it can be obtained in no other way. Then, why not 
make the surrender and pay the price? May God 
help you so to do, 



11 



THE TEMPTATIONS OF CHRIST 
A SERMON 

Text. — **Theii was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the 
wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted 
forty days and forty nights, he afterward hungered. And the 
tempter came and said unto him, If thou art the Son of God, 
command that these stones become bread. But he answered 
and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but 
by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Then 
the devil taketh him into the holy city; and he set him on 
the pinnacle of the temple, and saith unto him, If thou art 
the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He 
shall give his angels charge concerning thee, and. On their 
hands shall they bear thee up, lest haply thou dash thy foot 
against a stone. Jesus said unto him, Again it is written, 
Thou shalt not make trial of the Lord thy God. Again, the 
devil taketh him unto an exceeding high mountain, and showeth 
him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; and 
he said unto him. All these things will I give thee, if thou 
wilt fall down and worship me. Then saith Jesus unto him, 
Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship 
the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Then the 
devil leaveth him; and behold, angels came and ministered unto 
him."— Matt. 4: 1-11. 

THIS Scripture gives an account of one of the most 
thrilling, important and instructive events in 
the life of our Saviour on earth, and it may be studied 
with great profit. The event was more than a mere 
incident in the life and work of our Lord. It was 
an essential item in the program of redemption, and 
that program would have been incomplete and ineffec- 
tive without it. 

297 



298 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

The transaction is interesting from the standpoint 
of the time when it occurred. Jesus had just been 
baptized, and, by audible voice and intelligible words, 
acknowledged as the Son of God, and designated as 
the promised Messiah, by the descent of the Holy 
Spirit in visible form. Thus acknowledged and desig- 
nated, He appeared as the one and only hope of the 
children of men for salvation from sin and eternal 
death. The devil, who had been hounding Him to 
accomplish His destruction and thus complete the 
irretrievable ruin of mankind, was lingering about 
the baptismal scene, and saw and heard what took 
place, and no doubt said within himself: ''This is my 
opportunity; if I can overcome Him now that in Him 
is the only hope of a lost world, I will thereby thwart 
the purpose of God and eternally blight the prospects 
of men for redemption." With this malevolent design 
in his heart, he only awaited a suitable occasion for 
the wicked attempt; and, to give him the opportu- 
nity, the Spirit led the Master into the solitary 
wilderness. The language here used is capable of 
implying that the Lord went against His will, and 
Mark's statement of the case leaves no room for doubt 
on this point: ''And straightway the Spirit drivefh 
him into the wilderness." This clearly shows that 
Jesus was forced into the wilderness to undergo the 
fearful ordeal of temptation, against His will; for 
He knew what was involved, and correctly anticipated 
the fearful test to which He was to be subjected, and, 
as He was human as well as divine. He instinctively 
drew back from the awful trial. And, in thus draw- 
ing back and showing a disinclination to encounter 
temptation, He teaches His disciples a very important 
lesson with respect to practical life; He thus says to 



THE TEMPTATIONS OF CHRIST 299 

them in action which speaks more accurately than 
words: **You keep out of temptation whenever you 
can." All danger to spiritual life lies in temptation, 
and if we keep out of temptation we are not exposed 
to the danger of being entrapped in the wiles of the 
evil one. 

But it was necessary for our Saviour to pass 
through that ordeal, and do it just at the time that 
it occurred. He was about to come before the world 
with a most important and marvelous proposition — a 
proposition to deliver men and women from the power 
and thraldom of sin and Satan. He came into the 
world to ''destroy him that hath the power of death, 
that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear 
of death were all their lifetime subject unto bondage." 
But, before submitting this wonderful proposition to 
the world, it was necessary for Him to demonstrate 
His ability to accomplish what His proposal involved. 
By coming into the world and taking upon Himself 
the form of a servant. He showed His willingness to 
achieve the thing proposed; but one might be willing 
to do a given thing, but lack the ability to do it. 
And hence it was incumbent upon the Master to show 
His superiority to him who held the world captive 
at his will, and could therefore overturn his kingdom 
and deliver his captives; and to do this it was neces- 
sary for Him to meet the archfiend in single-handed 
combat, and overcome him. And for the test to be 
final and decisive, it had to take place under circum- 
stances altogether favorable to Satan, and unfavorable 
to his intended victim. Had it been the reverse, the 
devil could have broken the force of the logic of the 
event by saying: "Well, it is true that He vanquished 
me, but I was defeated by unfavorable circumstances, 



300 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

and not by my antagonist's superiority to me, either 
in strength or resources." It has often happened in 
the history of warfare that an inferior army has 
defeated a superior one on account of advantage in 
position. So, to make the issue of the contest decisive, 
the devil was allowed to have all the advantages of 
circumstances in his favor, and hence he could not 
shift the responsibility of his defeat from his own 
shoulders. 

The Master had just passed through a period of 
fasting that lasted forty days, during which not a 
morsel of food or a drop of water passed His lips, 
and one need not have a very lively imagination to 
conceive how He must have appeared at the end of that 
trying period. His eyes were sunken, His cheeks 
pale and wrinkled. His muscles wasted, and His 
physical strength at a very low ebb, while His entire 
being was clamoring for bread. Oh, how hungry He 
was! And at this critical and favorable moment the 
tempter makes his appearance and begins to bring 
his seductive art to bear upon our blessed Lord. It 
is said that *' man's extremity is God's opportunity," 
and it is equally true of man and the devil, and 
the latter is always ready to take advantage of any 
extreme position in which the former may be placed. 
It is interesting to note the tactics employed by his 
Satanic majesty in approaching Him whom he would 
destroy. He does not come as an open enemy, but 
in the guise of a friend. It is a mistake, a very 
serious and dangerous mistake, to suppose that the 
devil is not in anything that is not very ugly and 
repulsive. He understands his business well enough 
to know that there are people in the world whom 
he can not approach in his real character, and that 



THE TEMPTATIONS OF CHRIST 301 

he can only gain entrance into some circles of society 
in disguise. He likes nice things and nice people, 
and when occasion so demands he dresses in the height 
of fashion. The rustle of silks tickles his sensitive 
ear, and the sparkle of diamonds gratifies his aesthetic 
eye. He loves to associate with men and women who 
live in fine mansions, clothe themselves in purple and 
fine linen, and fare sumptuously every day. He 
delights in tripping the light fantastic toe, and revels 
in progressive euchre, knowing that he can thus 
euchre lots of nice people out of their souls! 

Not only did Satan approach Jesus as a friend, 
but even as a benefactor. In effect he said: **Now, you 
are a starving man, and are already at the point of 
death, and no bread is at hand here in this wilder- 
ness; but I can suggest a plan by which you can get 
relief. If you are the Son of God, command that 
these stones become bread." What a specious plea 
that was! The Master certainly had power to do the 
thing that the devil suggested, and bread was the 
thing that He most needed at that crucial moment; 
but it would have been sinful for the Lord to act 
upon the suggestion, otherwise there would have been 
no temptation in it. If you ask me wherein the Lord 
would have sinned if He had turned the stones into 
the bread that He needed, I frankly say that I do 
not know. I can see evil consequences that might 
have ensued, but that the act would have been sinful 
only on account of its consequences is not in evidence. 
No doubt the poison lay deeper than that, and the 
fact that I am not able to detect it teaches me a 
very important lesson; namely, that sin may exist 
where I can not see it. Some forms of sin are very 
gross, and lie upon the surface of things, but other 



302 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

forms are so refined and sublimated that they are not 
easily detected, and there is where the danger is. 
Their discovery requires a high degree of culture and 
development on the part of our spiritual perceptives, 
the same as the detection of some forms of poison 
demands a high degree of culture and development 
on the part of our physical faculties. An ordinary 
person might use as food something containing poison 
without detecting its presence through the sense of 
taste, whereas a trained chemist would discover the 
poison by touching the article to his tongue. 

Here is a lesson for some people who say that they 
can not see that a given thing is sinful, and therefore 
it may be innocently indulged in. Have you culti- 
vated your spiritual perceptives by long seasons of 
prayer, reading the Scriptures, holy meditation, and 
the like? Are you sure that your ability to judge 
of such matters is a safe rule by which to be gov- 
erned in the spiritual world? Perhaps it would be 
well for you to carefully consider the following 
Scripture: '*For every one that partaketh of milk is 
without experience of the word of righteousness; for 
he is a babe. But solid food is for full-grown men, 
even those who by reason of use have their senses 
exercised to discern good and evil" (Heb. 5:13, 14). 
Many *' babes" in Christ, whose ''senses are not 
exercised by reason of use" to discriminate between 
good and evil, fall victims to the wiles of the evil 
one because they make their own dull spiritual facul- 
ties the standard of action. But, you say, what is 
one to do if he can not trust his own judgment as to 
the moral character of a transaction? Well, do as 
you would do in a business transaction under similar 
circumstances. If you were going to buy a horse, and 



THE TEMPTATIONS OF CHRIST 303 

were not a good judge of horses, you would seek the 
advice of some one that you knew to be possessed 
of good judgment in such matters. Carry that com- 
mon-sense principle with you into the spiritual world, 
and if there is any doubt as to the moral character 
of a given course, seek the advice of men and women 
who have been long in the service of God, and have 
taken their spiritual faculties through an extended 
course of discipline and culture, and be guided by 
their judgment, and you are not apt to go wrong. 
Now notice the Master's method of meeting this 
insidious advance. He acted promptly and positively, 
and in such a manner as to rout the enemy at once. 
If He had entered into a parley with Satan about the 
matter, He would thereby have encouraged the enemy 
to press his suit to the limit. But His answer implied 
a positive and stern rejection of the plausible sugges- 
tion, such as caused the devil to know that it would 
be utterly useless for him to pursue that line of 
attack further. He drew the sword of the Spirit and 
said: ''It is written, Man shall not live by bread 
alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the 
mouth of God." In itemizing the implements of a 
Christian soldier's armor, the apostle Paul makes 
mention of the ''sword of the Spirit, which is the 
word of God," as an efficient weapon in the warfare 
in which the children of the heavenly Father are 
engaged, and this emphasizes the importance of know- 
ing that word. It is impossible for the devil to make 
an assault upon a follower of Christ that can not be 
parried and rendered harmless by the use of an 
appropriate passage of Scripture. The Lord's answer 
brings out the dual nature of man, and stresses the 
fact that while the outer man, the body, depends upon 

20 



304 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

bread for its existence, the inner man, the spirit, 
must have a different kind of food, which God has 
richly supplied in His holy word. The devil dreads a 
man who is familiar with the Bible, believes it, and 
knows how to handle it, and delights in . one who 
says he believes it, but throws doubt on its inspiration 
and infallibility. 

Foiled in this attempt to beguile Jesus into follow- 
ing his advice, the enemy prepares for an attack from 
another angle, and takes the Master into the Holy 
City, and places Him upon the pinnacle (wing) of 
the temple, and says to Him : ' ' If thou art the Son 
of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall 
give his angels charge concerning thee: and, On their 
hands they shall bear thee up, lest haply thou dash 
thy foot against a stone/' Think of it! The devil 
pretending to quote Scripture! He had felt the keen 
edge of that shining blade, and seeks to wrench it 
from the hands of the Lord and turn it against Him! 
But whenever you find the devil quoting Scripture 
you may rest assured that there is something wrong 
about it. He will add something to it, subtract 
something from it, or so pervert it in some way as 
to render it nugatory. The first time he ever under- 
took to use it, so far as we know, he added one little 
word to it: *'Thou shalt not surely die" — the exact 
law of God with the small word *'not" added, and 
that little addition '* brought death into the world, 
and all our woes"! In the case now before us he 
makes a subtraction. If you will examine the ninety- 
first Psalm, you will find that the passage which the 
devil pretends to quote, reads thus: "For he shall 
give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all 
thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands. 



THE TEMPTATIONS OF CHRIST 305 

lest thou dash thy foot against a stone." The clause 
that I have emphasized the tempter omitted from the 
passage, because, if he had quoted it, it would have 
spoiled his whole plot. He was aiming to make the 
impression upon the Saviour that God had pledged 
Himself to protect His children under all circum- 
stances, and that He will not allow one of His people 
to be destroyed. "To keep thee in all thy ways" is 
the pivot of this passage, and to omit it takes the 
life out of this Scripture. The ways of a child of 
God are his by adoption, and not by invention. God 
says, ''This is the way, walk ye in it," and as long 
as God's people walk in the way that He has marked 
out, He will take care of and protect them. "The 
angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that 
fear him, to deliver them," is one of the most blessed 
assurances that the Bible contains, and, if we could 
fully appropriate it by faith, it would relieve us of 
many worries and anxieties. 

It was the purpose of the devil to divert the 
Saviour from the true line of His work, and turn 
Him aside to sensationalism, and thus hinder Him 
in His real mission in the world. In effect he said: 
"Now, what you want is the attention of the people, 
and without that you can make no headway in your 
work; and if you will jump from this lofty height, 
and go down and down, and let an angel rescue and 
return you to the place you now occupy unharmed, 
you will get the attention of all men, and they will 
come from east, west, north and south, to see the 
man that can perform such a feat; and then you 
can teach them." And certainly He would have made 
a great sensation, and the people would have crowded 
Jerusalem to gape and gaze at the acrobat that had 



306 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

thus exploited Himself. But how long would it have 
lasted? About as long as the fame of Blondin, the 
tight-rope walker; or of Webb, the world-renowned 
swimmer; or of the ''human fly" who could scale a 
brick wall and thus reach the roof of a tall building — 
lasted. Who cares for, or thinks of, Blondin or Webb 
or the ''human fly" to-day? They have died, or will 
die, "unwept and unsung." And so would it have 
been with Jesus if the devil could have enticed Him 
into the realm of sensationalism. But with the Master 
he utterly failed, though he has succeeded with hun- 
dreds of His professed followers who claim to preach 
in His name, as sermon subjects as announced in 
daily papers abundantly testify. Satan is enough of 
a theologian to know that the gospel is G-od's power 
unto salvation, and hence he seeks to divert the atten- 
tion of both preachers and people from that, to that 
which has no power to save anybody. Jesus said, 
"Preach the gospel," and He also said, "You shall 
know the truth, and the truth shall make you free;" 
and Paul said, "Preach the word," and both Jesus 
and Paul practiced what they preached, and steered 
clear of sensational matters that tickle the fancy for 
a moment, and pass out of sight forever and leave no 
permanent results for good. "All flesh is as grass, 
and all the glory thereof as the flower of grass. The 
grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth: but 
the word of the Lord abideth for ever. And this is 
the word of good tidings which was preached unto 
you" (1 Pet. 1:24, 25). It is the business of Christ's 
messengers to preach the gospel in all its simplicity, 
beauty, fullness and power, and when they do that 
they fully come up to the standard of their obligation 
so far as preaching is concerned, and well may they 



THE TEMPTATIONS OF CHRIST 307 

say: ''Woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel." 
Away with human philosophy and speculation. 

Again wielding the sword of the Spirit upon His 
assailant, the Master says: ''Again it is written, Thou 
shalt not make trial of the Lord thy God." When 
God says a thing, let that be the end of the matter, 
and don't put Him to the test to see whether He 
means what He says or not. Receive by faith what 
He says, for He can not lie, and when he says a 
thing He will bring it to pass. The devil aims to 
throw doubt on the word of God, and get men to 
wondering whether it is true or not, and if he can 
get them to doubting he thus starts them on the road 
to ruin. When once men begin to doubt, there is no 
place to draw the line and say: "Thus far mayest 
thou come, but no further." Speaking of the inroads 
that skepticism has made upon faith through so-called 
scientific methods, Arthur Cushman McGiffert, in his 
book entitled "The Rise of Modern Religious Ideas," 
makes use of the following significant language: 

Finally, as the historical spirit began to spread in the late 
eighteenth century, and a saner view of the past became com- 
mon, theologians awoke to the futility of the harmonistic 
method, and some of them were brave enough to abandon the 
notion of Biblical infallibility in the scientific and historical 
realms and to confine it to the spheres of religion and morals. 
This marked a great step in the emancipation of the Christian 
world from the bondage of an earlier day. But it was long 
before the masses of the church were willing to take it, at any 
rate in America, and only in our own time can the older view 
be said to have been generally abandoned. 

But even here the process could not stop. The infallibility 
which was finally given up in other spheres could not in the 
very nature of the case be permanently maintained in those of 
religion and morals. The disintegrating process could not be 
confined to certain circumscribed areas. Doubt at one point 



308 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

must in tlie long run engender doubt at other points as welL 
There are still multitudes who occupy the halfway position 
just referred to, who recognize the historical and scientific 
errors of the Bible while maintaining its infallibility and abso- 
lute authority in religion and ethics j but their number is 
steadily decreasing. 

This is the pronunciamento of one of that coterie 
of men who think that they are the people, and that 
wisdom will die with them. He is very much mis- 
taken in the assumption that the old idea of inspira- 
tion and infallibility has ''been generally abandoned." 
The truth is that radical and skeptical criticism has 
said about its last word, and is on the wane. Its 
conclusions have for the most part been conjectures 
and assumptions, unsupported by established facts, 
and the old Book has come out of the fiery furnace 
into which it was cast by the ''critics," without the 
smell of fire on its garments. But the point in the 
foregoing excerpt to which I wish to call especial 
attention is the statement that *' doubt at one point 
must in the long run engender doubt at other points 
as well." Here lies the danger to one's faith, and 
if Satan can only find a place for an entering wedge, 
he knows that such a wedge will make room for others, 
and that he will have his victim on the hip, and that 
a fair chance to accomplish the wreck of his faith 
will be his. My brother, take care of your faith, and 
allow not the evil one to shake it to any extent. 

Foiled the second time in his nefarious designs 
upon the Master, the tempter prepares for a final 
and desperate assault, and takes the coveted prey to 
the top of "an exceeding high mountain" and causes 
to pass in review before Him "all the kingdoms of 



THE TEMPTATIONS OF CHRIST 309 

the world, and the glory of them; and he said unto 
him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt 
faU down and worship me.'' What an appeal was 
this to human pride and ambition! For a much 
smaller price Caesar spurred his horse into the Rubi- 
con, drenched the battlefields of Pharsalia in human 
blood, and hurried on to Rome to mount a throne of 
universal empire. In the hope of gaining a prize 
insignificant in comparison with this, Hannibal braved 
the difficulties of the Alps, and led the hitherto invin- 
cible legions of Carthage down into sunny Italy and 
on to the very gates of the imperial city, only to be 
thwarted by the bold strategy of Scipio. In quest 
of a prize that pales into insignificance when com- 
pared with the one Satan offered the Saviour, Napo- 
leon led the magnificent army of France into the 
depths of the frozen snow of the North, only to behold 
the splendid blocks of Moscow melt away under the 
sweep of devouring flames, leaving him without 
shelter, to gather up the remnants of a demoralized 
army, and return in disgraceful defeat. All the king- 
doms of the world, with all their glory, pageantry, 
pomp, wealth and power, were offered Jesus for one 
bow in recognition of the devil's superiority to Him- 
self! That was the issue involved, and Satan made 
a tremendous bid to try to buy the Lord off and get 
Him to yield the point, and admit His inferiority. 
Let us praise God that the effort was a conspicuous 
failure, and that our blessed Redeemer was able to 
resist the temptation and come off a conqueror over 
His enemy and ours, and put him to flight. If He 
had failed, the wreck of this world would have been 
complete, and the very throne of God would have 
toppled into irretrievable ruin and desolation, and the 



310 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

universe would have become forever enshrouded in 
darkness ! 

Do I hear some one say that the devil was not in 
possession of the things he offered, and could not 
have delivered the goods? In that event there could 
have been no temptation in the proposition. If I were 
to offer a man my check for a hundred thousand 
dollars to do a certain mean thing, I would simply 
make myself the butt of ridicule. The man would 
say, ''What do you take me for? Your check for a 
hundred thousand dollars isn't worth the paper it is 
written upon," and there would be no temptation in 
it. But if a multimillionaire were to make such an 
offer, the man would probably rub his hands together, 
and say, "That's business," and fall into the trap. 
It is probably not true that ^^ every man has his 
price," but you had better not be too liberal in your 
offer to any man, if you do not want to be taken up! 
There was a temptation — a powerful temptation — in 
the proposition that the devil made the Son of God, 
and hence he could have delivered the goods, thus 
shattering the last hope of mankind for salvation and 
deliverance from the dominion of his Satanic majesty. 
What is the Master's answer to be? Do angels cease 
their harping and tremble in suspense while they 
await the issue? If there was utter silence in heaven 
pending the outcome of that awful tragedy, it should 
cause no surprise, for the most stupendous and far- 
reaching issues hang upon the result. The eternal 
destiny of men and the authority and glory of God 
are involved, and if the Saviour falls, all is lost, and 
lost to all eternity! 

But listen! "Get thee hence, Satan: for it is 
written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and 



THE TEMPTATIONS OP CHRIST 311 

him only shalt thou serve." Glory to God on earth 
and in the highest heavens! The enemy has been 
defeated and driven from the field of battle in humil- 
iation and disgrace, and we may raise our Ebenezer, 
and lay hold upon the hope of immortality and 
eternal life. From this transaction we may learn that 
the way to get rid of the tempter is to deal positively 
with him, and show him no quarter. He goes about 
like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, and 
if we undertake to temporize with him we give him a 
great advantage, and encourage him to persevere in 
his attempts, and in the end he may triumph, and 
lead his victim captive at his will. But he under- 
stands plain language, and when he knows that the 
speaker means what he says, he gives up the fight. 
Luke, according to the Received Text, makes Jesus 
say, **Get thee behind me, Satan," and that is prob- 
ably an interpolation, yet it is permissible for us to 
use the expression, and we may be sure that it will 
be effective, for the devil will not occupy that 
position in the journey. He prefers to go as a leader, 
but if he is not allowed that position, he is content 
to go by one's side as a companion, hail fellow, well 
met; but he will not trail along behind as a dog, but 
will seek a more congenial environment. He fled from 
the victorious Lord with his banner trailing in the 
dust, and "behold, angels came and ministered to" 
the Master. Ministered to him in what? In the 
thing that he, as a human being, then most needed, 
and that was bread. These heavenly messengers had 
been hovering over that scene with bated breath, and 
with luscious loaves within the folds of their wings, 
ready to serve their Lord and Master at the proper 
time — a conspicuous instance of angelic ministry. 



312 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

And now that ''he himself hath suffered being 
tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted/' 
and as He "hath been in all points tempted like as 
we are, yet without sin, ' ' we can commit ourselves to His 
keeping with the utmost assurance that He can and 
will deliver us from all the wiles and power of our 
great enemy if we will only walk in the way He has 
marked out for our feet. It is a wonderful saying 
and a precious truth that our dear Saviour was 
tempted in all points like as we are, and hence He 
knows just what allowance to make for our weak- 
nesses and shortcomings. Here it is necessary to do 
some generalizing and classifying. I do not suppose 
that Jesus ever felt the temptation that the libertine 
or the inebriate or the thief experiences, and yet He 
was tempted in all points like as we are. The fol- 
lowing Scripture solves this difficulty: "For all that 
is in the world, the lust of the fiesh and the lust of 
the eyes and the vainglory [pride] of life, is not of 
the Father, but is of the world'' (1 John 2:16). 
All sins may be classified under these three heads, 
and every temptation approaches from one of these 
angles. No man or woman ever fell a prey to tempta- 
tion except at one of these points. It came either 
through the lusts of the flesh, or the lusts of the eyes, 
or the pride of life. Jesus was tempted at every one 
of these points. The first appeal was made to the 
lust of the flesh. Oh, how His flesh was lusting for 
bread, and urging Him to lay hold of any suggestion 
that promised relief! How many men and women 
have fallen into the clutches of sin and Satan by 
yielding to the lust of the flesh! The next appeal 
was to the pride or vainglory of life. Show the world 
what you can do as an acrobat, and your praises will 



THE TEMPTATIONS OF CHRIST 313 

be acclaimed throughout the land. Thousands have 
stumbled over this rock of offense. The third and 
last appeal was to the lust of the eyes, and what an 
appeal that was. Thousands upon thousands have 
fallen over this precipice, and perhaps the devil was 
encouraged by the fact that it was through this 
means that he poisoned the fountain of the stream 
of humanity in the Garden of Eden: ''And when the 
woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that 
it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to 
be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit 
thereof, and did eat; and she gave also unto her 
husband with her, and he did eat" (Gen. 3:6). And 
thus the wreck came, and man was plunged into the 
depths of ruin — all through the lust of the eyes. But 
the tempter now meets more than his match, and the 
Master closes His eyes to this seductive appeal, and 
His victory is complete. 

Now He is ready to come before the world with 
His wonderful proposition, and extend His gracious 
invitation in these precious words: ''Come unto me, 
all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will 
give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn 
of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye 
shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, 
and my burden is light." This language rings with 
the sweetest music in the ears of sin-sick and sin- 
weary men and women who groan under the burdens 
of sin and sorrow, and desire that blessed rest that 
the Saviour offers and is able and willing to bestow. 
Here is a hand held out to help weary pilgrims along 
the rugged paths of life, and guide them in peace 
and safety to the haven of eternal rest, and with 
what eagerness we should clasp that hand and accept 



314 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

its guidance and protection. The Lord has shown 
Himself to be able ''to save to the uttermost all those 
who come to God by him," and upon this basis He 
graciously says: ''Look unto me, all ye ends of the 
earth, and be ye saved." These precious invitations 
and promises fall upon the souls of sojourners here 
below like oil upon troubled waters, and prompt them 
to pick up courage to "press on toward the goal unto 
the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." 
Yes, blessed be God, weary pilgrims can pursue their 
journey through this world, singing 

'*Eoek of Ages, cleft for me. 
Let me hide myself in Thee,** 

and find in Him a safe refuge from "every stormy 
wind that blows." 

With what zest we may sing that soul-cheering 
song that opens with the line, "Jesus, lover of my 
soul," when the storms of life howl about us and 
threaten us with destruction! There is a beautiful 
little legend, connected with the origin of that hymn, 
that is both thrilling and inspiring. It is said that 
its author, Charles Wesley, was promenading on the 
beach one day, and while thus engaged a great storm 
arose. The sky was overcast with angry and ominous 
clouds, the heavens gave forth peal after peal of 
roaring thunder, forked lightnings darted hither and 
thither, and incoming waves washed the sands at his 
feet. When the storm was at its greatest height his 
eyes were greeted with a sight that almost made him 
forget the angry mood of the elements. He beheld a 
timid dove chased by a ravenous hawk intent upon 
devouring the weaker bird. On they flew, the hawk 
gaining upon the dove by every stroke of a stronger 



' THE TEMPTATIONS OF CHEIST 315 

I wing, and it seemed as if the chase would soon end 

with the timid bird in the clutches of its enemy. But 
all at once the dove espied the poet, and instinctively 

I turned her course in his direction, thinking that in 

him she would find a safe retreat. On and still on 
they came, the dove in quest of protection, and the 
hawk bent upon securing a feast upon the luckless 
victim, while the poet's heart almost forgot to beat 
in his intense interest in the outcome of the chase. 

I Imagine his surprise and joy when the quivering dove 

nestled in his bosom, and the hawk was frightened 
away. The timid bird was safe, and, gathering inspi- 
ration from the thrilling incident, the poet sang: 

** Jesus, lover of my soul. 

Let me to Thy bosom fly; 
While the nearer waters roll, 
While the tempest still is high. 

**Hide me, O my Saviour, hide, 
Till the storm of life is past; 
Safe into the haven guide, 
O receive my soul at last.'' 

What a beautiful and apt illustration! "We are 
in the midst of the storms and tempests of life, and 
. frequently angry and threatening clouds lower above 

I us, while the devil, our relentless enemy, pursues us 

with evil intent, anxious to get his cruel clutches upon 
us to destroy us. But yonder stands the dear Saviour 
with outstretched hands of mercy, ready to take us 
into His loving bosom and give us ample protection 
against the terrible monster who is hounding us along 
the way, all the time seeking opportunity to drag us 
down to eternal ruin. How can sane people reject 
such a Saviour and refuse to take shelter under His 
protecting wing? He is man^s only hope. '*And in 



316 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

none other is there salvation; for neither is there any 
other name under heaven, that is given among men, 
wherein we must be saved." And that name is above 
every other name, whether it be of "things in heaven, 
or things on earth, or things under the earth," and 
in it we can put to flight the prince of the power 
of the air, and defy the armies of the king of dark- 
ness. Then, ''take the name of Jesus with you" as 
a shield and buckler, that you may be able to stand 
against the wiles of the devil, and escape the snares 
and pitfalls that he prepares to entrap you. By 
that name the apostles cast out devils, and by that 
name we may, in a figurative sense, do the same thing 
and triumph over every enemy. 

Since Jesus, who has shown Himself to be superior 
to Satan in moral strength and resources, is for us, 
what does it matter who is against us? If we will 
keep Him between us and the tempter, He will ward 
off the enemy's blows and provide a way for our 
escape. In attempting to destroy our blessed Lord 
the devil sought to destroy the human family as a 
whole by one masterful stroke, but, inasmuch as he 
failed in that effort, he now aims to cut us off in 
detail by attacking us one at a time; and it can not 
be said that this plan is a signal failure, for he 
leads many individuals captive at his will. But he 
never succeeds with one who makes Jesus his shield 
and buckler, for all the resources of the universe are 
at His command. He could have called legions of 
angels to deliver Him from the hands of His enemies 
when He was passing through His Gethsemane, but 
that would have been to thwart the purpose of His 
mission in this world. However, he is under no such 
restraint with respect to His people, but is at liberty 



THE TEMPTATIONS OF CHRIST 317 

to use such means as may be necessary to protect 
them against the assaults of their enemy. They have 
His promise that He will never leave nor forsake 
them, and this promise stands round about them as 
an impregnable waU of defense and safety. When 
attacked by Satan they may flee to the Rock that is 
higher than they, and therein find refuge from the 
would-be destroyer. He is as a mighty rock in a 
weary land, and in the shadow thereof His people 
may find rest and security. May God help us ever 
to take the name of Jesus with ua. Amen. 



THE BIBLE 
A LECTURE 

WHAT holy emotions the very sound stirs in the 
human breast! What sacred memories it 
brings to the surface in the human mind! What 
rapturous aspirations it plants in the human heart! 
In this divine Book is wrapped up the present welfare 
and future hopes of mankind, from its fountains 
spring the waters of salvation, and from its larder 
comes the bread of life. It is the pivot upon which 
the destinies of the world turn, the foundation upon 
which the brightest prospects of the race rest. It 
is the sun that has thrown its refulgent light upon 
the pathway of human life through the ages past, 
and it is the morning star whose bright rays paint the 
future in the colors of hope. 

What Is the Bible? 

In the first place, it is a body of the world's best 
literature. For poetic beauty, rhetorical finish, bio- 
graphical interest, historical fascination, and general 
literary attractiveness, the Bible occupies a unique 
position in the annals of men. Are you in quest 
of thrilling passages in the bewitching epic? You 
need not go beyond the Book of Job to find the object 
of your search. Are you on the lookout for entranc- 
ing figures of rhetoric? The prophets, both major 
and minor, supply the demand in abundance. Do 

318 



THE BIBLE 319 

you desire beautiful and pathetic touches in biog- 
raphy? The stories of Jacob and Joseph are at hand 
with their stores of thrilling incident. Do you wish 
to store your mind with interesting and instructive 
history? The Pentateuch furnishes you with the very 
beginnings of authentic history, and other historical 
parts of the Old Testament come in with their cargo 
of reliable information as to the happenings of remote 
antiquity. 

In the second place, it is a rule of life, presenting 
the very best possible standard of character, and the 
only absolutely safe guide in working out the destinies 
of men. When its principles of . morality, virtue, 
sobriety, equity, truth and general righteousness are 
woven into the warp and woof of life, whether indi- 
vidual or national, the result is a character unimpeach- 
able, and impervious to the shafts of enmity and 
criticism. The foremost men of the world have 
attributed their success in life, for the most part, to 
the molding influence of the Bible upon their thoughts 
and acts, and they have recommended it to young 
men as the polar star that should guide them in all 
their pursuits of life. 

Thomas Huxley can not be said to be biased in 
favor of the Bible in his estimate of its value as an 
important factor in the affairs of human life, and he 
bears the following testimony on the subject: "By 
the study of what other book could children be so 
much humanized and made to feel that each figure 
in the vast historical procession fills, like themselves, 
but a momentary space between two eternities, and 
earns the blessings or curses of all time, according 
to its effort to do good and hate evil, even as they 
are also earning their pajonent for their work? . . . 

21 



320 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

I do not say that even the highest Biblical ideal is 
exclusive of others or needs no supplement. But I 
do believe that the human race is not yet, possibly 
may never be, in a position to dispense with it." 
That is high praise from such a source, and the 
wonder is that a man with so fine a conception of the 
Bible as an indispensable factor in the affairs of the 
world, could for a moment regard it as the product 
of honest human genius, to say nothing of fraud or 
forgery. William Wilberforce said: "Read the Bible. 
Through all my perplexities and distresses I have never 
read any other book, I never knew the want of any 
other." When such a man could find the Bible to 
be of such inestimable value to him in the distresses 
and perplexities of life, other men may well bow at this 
shrine. 

Lord Bacon left the following testimony as to the 
value of this holy Book in the world's life: ''There 
never was found, in any age of the world, either 
religion or law that did so highly exalt the public 
good as the Bible." This philosopher and publicist 
did not make his statement too strong, and in view 
of his confidence in, and reverence for, ''the old 
family Bible that lay on the stand," people of lesser 
note need not blush to acknowledge it as the Book 
divine. Daniel Webster, one of America's greatest 
orators and statesmen, bore this strong testimony to 
the value of the Bible in the life of the nation: "If 
we abide by the principles taught in the Bible, our 
country will go on prospering and to prosper; but if 
we or our posterity neglect its instructions and author- 
ity, no man can tell how suddenly a catastrophe may 
overwhelm us and bury all our glory in profound 
obscurity." 



THE BIBLE 321 

The following statements have the force of 
aphorisms: ''Upon two foundations, the law of nature 
and the law of revelation, depend all human laws/' — 
Blackstone. "Young men, my advice to you is that 
you cultivate an acquaintance with the truth, and a 
firm belief in the Holy Scriptures. This is your cer- 
tain interest." — Benjamin Franklin. "Let us cling 
with a holy zeal to the Bible, and the Bible alone, 
as the source of our religion." — Joseph Story. "It is 
impossible to rightly govern the world without God 
and the Bible." — George Washington. "In regard to 
the great Book, I have only to say that it is the best 
gift which God has given to man." — Abraham Lincoln. 
"No book contains more truths, or is worthy of more 
consideration, than the Bible; for none brings more 
comfort to the sorrowing, more strength to the weak, 
or more stimulus to the nobly ambitious; none makes 
life sweeter, or death easier or less sad." — Justice 
David J. Brewer. "Every fair-minded, unbiased per- 
son who will carefully read the Bible, with the desire 
to master its contents, will find abundant evidence of 
its divine origin, and that it was designed to teach 
our duty to God and our fellow-men." — Chief Justice 
Maxwell. Sir William Jones has bequeathed to us the 
following beautiful statement: "The Scriptures con- 
tain more true sublimity, more exquisite beauty, and 
finer strains of poetry and eloquence than could be 
collected from all other books that were ever composed 
in any age or in any idiom." 

In concluding an article in the Twentieth Cen- 
tury Church for January, entitled "When Shall I 
Give Up My Bible?" Dr. Frank W. Gunsaulus gives 
us the following sublime and eloquent utterances in 
regard to the Bible: "Its lines, breathing life, order 



322 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

and freedom, would inspire John Bnnyan's dream, 
Algernon Sidney's fatal republicanism, and Puffen- 
dorf's judicature. With them William Penn would 
meet the Indian of the forest and Fenelon the philos- 
opher in his meditative solitude. Kant, Locke, Newton 
and Leibnitz would carry it with them in the pathless 
fields of speculation, while Peter the Great was smit- 
ing an arrogant priest in Russia, and William was 
ascending the English throne. From its poetry Cow- 
per, Wordsworth, Tennyson and Browning would 
catch the divine afflatus : from its statesmanship Burke, 
Rom illy and Bright would learn how to create and 
redeem institutions; from its melodies Handel, Bach, 
Mendelssohn and Beethoven would write oratorios, 
masses and symphonies; from its declaration of divine 
sympathy Wilberforce, Howard and Florence Night- 
ingale were to emancipate slaves, reform prisons and 
mitigate the cruelties of war; from its prophecies 
Dante's hope of a united Italy was to be realized by 
Cavour, Garibaldi and Victor Emmanuel. Looking 
upon the family Bible as he was dying, Andrew Jack- 
son said: 'That Book, sir, is the rock upon which the 
republic rests;' and with her hand upon that Book, 
Victoria, England's coming queen, was to sum up her 
history as a power amid the nations of the earth, 
when, replying to the question of an ambassador, 
'What is the secret of England's superiority among 
the nations?' she would say, 'Go tell your prince that 
this is the secret of England's political greatness.' 
When infidelity, with all her literature, produces a 
roll-call more glorious than this; when out of her 
pages I may see coming a nobler set of forces for the 
making of manhood — then, and only then, will I 
consider any rival claims; then will I give up my 



THE BIBLE 323 

Bible; then, and only then, will I cease to pray and 
labor that it may be given to all the world/' 

The following tribute is from the facile pen of 
Walter Scott: ''This Book contains the mind of God, 
the state of man, the way of salvation, the doom of 
sinners and the happiness of believers. Its doctrines 
are holy, its precepts are binding, its histories are 
true and its decisions immutable. Read it to be wise, 
believe it to be safe, and practice it to be holy. It 
contains light to direct you, food to support you, 
and comfort to cheer you. It is the traveler's map, 
the pilgrim's staff, the pilot's compass, the soldier's 
sword, and the Christian's charter. Here paradise 
is restored, heaven opened, and the gates of hell 
disclosed. Christ is its grand subject, our good its 
design, and the glory of God its end. It should fill 
the memory, rule the heart and guide the feet. Read 
it slowly, frequently, prayerfully. It is given to you 
in life, will be opened at the judgment, and remem- 
bered forever. It involves the highest responsibility, 
rewards the greatest labor, and condemns all who 
trifle with its holy contents." 

But, as I have already intimated, this Book not 
only elevates, ennobles and purifies individual life, but 
it does the same for national life. The greatest, 
purest and happiest nations on the footstool of God 
to-day are those nations that honor Jehovah and respect 
reverence and obey His word. England and the 
United States easily lead the procession in the onward 
march of the nations of the world, in everything that 
pertains to the substantials of national life, and they 
furnish illustrations of the declaration, ''Blessed is the 
nation whose God is Jehovah." Considerably less 
than a century ago the inhabitants of the Fiji Islands 



324 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

were cannibals sunken into the deepest depths of 
moral pollution and spiritual degradation. To-day 
they are civilized, the marriage relation is recognized 
and honored, the home is held sacred, and the islands 
are thickly dotted with temples dedicated to the 
worship of the only true and living God. A lady 
missionary, who spent years among those people, 
declares that now about the last thing one hears on 
the streets at night is the sound of prayer and praise 
that devout worshipers offer up to Jehovah around 
family altars, and that the same is repeated next 
morning. The islands have been redeemed from dark- 
ness and superstition, and the people translated into 
the kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 
What has wrought this marvelous transformation? 
The blessed Bible, in the hands and mouths of mis- 
sionaries, found its way into those benighted and 
besotted regions, and caused the wilderness to blossom 
like a garden of roses. 

S. L. Bowman, in his magnificent work entitled 
''Historical Evidence of the New Testament,'' in the 
last paragraph of Chapter V. presents this splendid 
summary of the benefits that the Bible has bestowed 
upon mankind: ''Confessedly the foremost nations of 
the earth are those which have founded their laws 
upon the legislation of Moses in the wilderness and 
the sermon of Christ upon the mountain. Truly did 
that great judicial mind, Sir Matthew Hale, remark 
that 'Christianity is a parcel of the common law.' 
It does not enter the halls of legislation to dictate 
or make codes, but it teaches legislators right prin- 
ciples of equity, and molds the conscience to a sense 
of that which is right and just in ruling. In these 
nations alone has the spirit existed which destroyed 



THE BIBLE 325 

the infamous slave trade, which has broken off forever 
shackles of the bondsmen; has elevated the lowly to 
the possibilities and realizations of places of power 
and preferment; has enriched countries with educa- 
tional institutions for the advantage and advancement 
of the youth; has created homes for the aged, societies 
for the protection of children, reformatories for the 
recovery of the erring and the fallen, founded hos- 
pitals for the sick and afflicted, and built churches for 
the salvation of the unsaved. They have organized 
the people into societies to prevent cruelty to brutes. 
Nay, it is the very spirit and law of the Christian 
religion to teach kindliness in the home, care for the 
servants, help for the poor, respect for children, 
deference to parents, honor to woman, reverence for 
the aged, love for one's neighbor; to bring charities 
for the destitute, missions to the pagans, and Christ 
everywhere for the unsaved. With such a history 
behind it, and such objects of activity before it, and 
such a spirit within it, it is obviously quite too late 
to attempt to relegate Christianity to the rear, or 
politely bow it out of existence, or assign it a place 
among the common myths of superstitious people. 
The impotent sneer of the unbeliever is a confession 
that as a reasoner he has ceased to be rational, and 
feels that he can not refute the just and open claims 
of the religion of Christ." 

And thus I might go on quoting page after page 
from the pens of the world's wisest and best men, 
with respect to the value and importance of the Bible 
in the ongoing of the affairs of men, but it is entirely 
unnecessary. What I have brought before you out 
of this storehouse of wisdom is sufficient to indicate 
to you that the Book you love above all other books 



326 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

is not a worn-out, discredited and useless volume to 
be laid aside as having outlived its day of useful- 
ness. I would fix upon your minds the pleasing con- 
viction that, in espousing the cause of the Bible, you 
take your stand with the noblest, grandest and wisest 
men and women whose lives have ever adorned human 
history. Never be ashamed of this Book. Press it to 
your hearts; hold it aloft in your hands as God's 
beacon-light placed upon the shores of time to guide 
those who are navigating the seas of this life into the 
sure and peaceful haven of eternal rest. Unfurl its 
white banner and let it float out upon the breezes 
of divine mercy and love, that lost souls may rally 
to it and look to Him who holds its staff in His nail- 
pierced hands, for salvation and eternal life. 

In the next place, the Bible presents to man the 
only possible channel by which he can escape sin and 
its direful consequences. Sin is the most fearful and 
blighting fact known to human history. We see it 
in the furrowed cheek and sunken eye; in the bent 
form and the palsied hand; in deformed bodies and 
feeble minds; in the tear of distress and the cold, 
clammy clay from which the spirit has taken its flight. 
We hear it in the wail of the suffering infant and 
the sigh of the anguished mother; in the shriek of 
suffering and the moan of sorrow; in the shout of 
debauchery and the clink of money in the gambling- 
hall; in the midnight revelry of the bagnio and the 
groan of the victim of foul murder; in the protest 
of the oppressed and muffled murmur of the down- 
trodden; in the fierce barking of the snarling dogs of 
war and the clash of sabers in the hands of contend- 
ing armies; in the roar of mighty guns upon the 
tremendous battleship and the groans of the maimed 



THE BIBLE 327 

and dying; in the curses of the wicked and the cries 
of the damned. We feel it in the aching of the heart 
and the throbbing of the head; in the burning fever 
and the benumbing chill; in the scourge of the epi- 
demic and the lash of the tormentor; in the grip of 
the hand of avarice and the lash applied by the hand 
of greed; in the sting of adversity and the touch of 
the icy fingers of death. 

What is it that offers relief from all these misfor- 
tunes and more? What is it that lays the soothing 
hand of comfort upon the aching brow and admin- 
isters a satisfying potion of solace? What is it that 
touches the lacerated heart with the fingers of love 
and applies the oil of consolation? What is it that 
moistens the parched tongue of anguish and dampens 
the fevered lip of pain? What is it that speaks to 
the raging tempest and says, ''Peace! be still!" and 
there ensues the restful calm? What is it that lifts 
the burden from the crushed heart and applies the 
balm of hope? What is it that breaks the shackles 
of oppression and deals out justice to all alike? What 
is it that turns the tears of grief into tears of joy? 
What is it that replaces mourning with laughter? 
What is it that digs up the thorn and plants the rose? 
What is it that offers an effectual antidote for that 
which ''brought death into the world, and all our 
woes''? 

Let the world be still and listen while the answer 
comes in the short phrase, "The Bible." Let him 
who hears take it up and shout it aloud, and send its 
echoes up and down the valleys, through the moun- 
tains, over the plains, across the seas, even unto 
earth's remotest bounds, till every ear shall hear the 
glad sound, "The Bible!" and heaven and earth 



328 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

repeat together the refrain, ''The Bible!" It is this 
Book that is to readjust the relations of capital and 
labor, so that no longer will hard-muscled laborers be 
herded together like cattle, live in thatched huts unfit 
for human habitation, subsist on $1.50 per day, die 
on account of unsanitary conditions in their quarters, 
suffer from lack of medical attention, and grow bitter 
in their disposition because of the unequal and unjust 
distribution of wealth, while the millionaire, who 
appropriates to himself the wealth produced by the 
sweat of the brows of the toilers that have just been 
mentioned, lives in a marble palace, circles about the 
country in luxuriously furnished special cars, sleeps 
on downy beds, eats and drinks the richest viands of 
the land, and, for the amusement of the public, 
donates millions to colleges, churches and libraries 
for the rich! As soon as the Bible can engraft upon 
public sentiment the principle of the Golden Rule, 
''Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, 
do ye even so to them," the mountains of unjust 
divisions of the proceeds of labor will be digged down, 
and the valleys of discrimination against the brawny 
toiler in the apportionment of dividends will be filled 
up, resulting in one common level upon which the 
capitalist and the laborer will walk and work together 
as brothers equally interested in the ongoing of the 
affairs of men, and enjoying a sweet fellowship that 
will give renewed and explained meaning to the 
angelic anthem, "Peace on earth, and good will among 
men. ' * 

Give this Book its rightful place in the thought, 
affection and conduct of the world, and individual 
selfishness will soon seek some cavernous hiding-place, 
and leave men under the domination of the apostolic 



THE BIBLE 329 

injunction, *'Not looking each of you to his own 
things, but each of you also to the things of others." 
This will give us back a Paradise regained, and fill 
the earth with the glory of the Lord and the supreme 
good of mankind. Till this comes to pass, the picture 
just imperfectly sketched will never be realized, but 
wars and rumors of wars will continue, nations rising 
against nations, and kingdoms against kingdoms, and 
there will be the blood and fire and smoke of bitter 
contention and relentless antagonism. Capital will 
seek the advantage of labor, and labor will resentfully 
attack capital; employers will oppress the employed, 
and the latter will strike back in what they believe 
to be self-defense ; the masses will have to bow 
their necks to the yoke of the classes, and the former 
will resist and resent the encroachments of their 
oppressors upon what they consider their rights, and 
by whatever means may seem to them best suited to 
the accomplishment of the end they have in view. 
The world is in a state of commotion and unrest, 
and the waters of public life are in a state of wild 
agitation, with waves rolling high, and madcaps flying 
in every direction. Toss the Bible upon these surg- 
ing billows, and see how quickly they will fall into 
the gentle sleep of quietude and repose. Make the 
Bible the rule of life and activity, both for the 
individual and the nation, and see how speedily the 
people will be molded into a loving brotherhood in 
which the general welfare will be the supreme object 
sought, and personal selfishness and ambition will give 
place to mutual care and sympathy. Give to men 
generally the spirit that breathes in the gospel of the 
Lord Jesus Christ, and every man will esteem every 
other man his brother, and regard himself as his 



330 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

brother's keeper, and see to it that his brother gets 
a ''square deal." Let the nations of earth exalt the 
Lord of glory to his rightful place in the world's 
life, and exultantly sing, ''Bring forth the royal 
diadem, and crown him Lord of all," and the sun 
of righteousness will bathe our common home in a 
sheen of light, and clothe it in a mantle of genial 
warmth. 

But great and important as the Bible is in what 
it has done, is doing, and proposes to do, for men in 
this life, that is neither its only nor chief function. 
It makes possible through the sacrifice of the Lamb of 
God an abundant entrance into the kingdom of eternal 
glory. It offers us habitation in a city whose "maker 
and builder is God." And what glorious and exquisite 
visions come to view here! "And I saw a new heaven 
and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first 
earth are passed away; and the sea is no more. And 
I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out 
of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned 
for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of 
the throne saying. Behold, the tabernacle of God is 
with men, and he shall dwell with them, and they 
shall be his people, and God himself shall be with 
them, and be their God: and he shall wipe away every 
tear from their eyes; and death shall be no more; 
neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, 
any more: the first things are passed away. And he 
that sitteth on the throne said, Behold, I make all 
things new." 

"And the city lieth foursquare, and the length 
thereof is as great as the breadth: and he measured 
the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs: the 
length and the breadth and the height thereof are 



THE BIBLE 331 

equal. And he measured the wall thereof, a hundred 
and forty and four cubits, according to the measure 
of a man, that is, of an angel. And the building of 
the wall thereof was jasper: and the city was pure 
gold, like unto pure glass. The foundations of the 
wall of the city were adorned with all manner of 
precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the 
second, sapphire ; the third chalcedony ; the fourth, 
emerald; the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the 
seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, topaz; 
the tenth, chrysoprase; the eleventh, jacinth; the 
twelfth, amethyst. And the twelve gates were twelve 
pearls; and each of the several gates was one pearl: 
and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were 
transparent glass. And I saw no temple therein: for 
the Lord God the Almighty, and the Lamb, are the 
temple thereof. And the city hath no need of the 
sun, neither of the moon, to shine upon it: for the 
glory of the Lord did lighten it, and the lamp thereof 
is the Lamb. And the nations shall walk amidst the 
light thereof: and the kings of the earth do bring 
their glory into it. And the gates thereof shall in 
no wise be shut by day (for there shall be no night 
there) : and they shall bring the glory and the honor 
of the nations into it: and there shall in no wise enter 
into it anything unclean, or he that maketh an abomi- 
nation and a lie: but only they which are written in 
the Lamb's book of life. And he showed me a river of 
water of life, bright as crystal, proceeding out of the 
throne of God and of the Lamb, in the midst of the 
street thereof. And on this side of the river and on 
that was the tree of life, bearing twelve manner of 
fruits, yielding its fruit every month: and the leaves 
of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And 



332 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

there shall be no curse any more: and the throne of 
God and of the Lamb shall be therein: and his ser- 
vants shall do him service; and they shall see his 
face; and his name shall be on their foreheads. And 
there shall be night no more; and they need no light 
of lamp, neither light of sun; for the Lord God shall 
give them light; and they shall reign for ever and 
ever, ' ' 

The Bible an Inspired Book. 

What this Book has already accomplished in the 
world, and what it reasonably promises to do for the 
world and men in the future, raises a presumption 
in favor of its claim to be of superhuman origin — 
that it came into existence under the direction of 
divine inspiration; for it is hardly probable that such 
an instrumentality could be the product of man. 
Judged by its fruits, its claims stand in the court of 
reason, and on this basis the idea of its inspiration 
might confidently be permitted to rest. But in view 
of the tremendous issues involved, and the immense 
interests that are at stake, I think it eminently proper 
to approach and examine the subject from other 
points of view. 

Can God think? That question is almost startling. 
Go into a great watch factory, and observe the intri- 
cate machinery that is involved in the making of a 
watch. Bands and wheels and cogs and pulleys and 
saws, et cetera, are at work everywhere, and all har- 
moniously at work with reference to the accomplish- 
ment of a given and specific end; and the result is 
an instrument to mark time with almost perfection. 
Could the man that designed that marvelous piece of 
mechanism think? Look out upon the universe to 



THE BIBLE 333 

which we belong, and note the movements of the 
planets as they "fill the circuits marked by Heaven/' 
The solar system is the only machine that keeps time 
with absolute and unvarying perfection. The most 
delicately adjusted watch will in process of time vary 
a little, and need the attention of an intelligent 
regulator. Not so, however, with this machine that 
God made, and upon whose various parts He has 
plainly written His name. One revolution of the 
earth around the sun measures off a year to a second, 
and it never misses it to the extent of the least con- 
ceivable point of time. Speaking of the precision with 
which the earth makes its revolutions, Prof. Herbert 
W. Morris says : 

*'To assist us in appreciating this, let us suppose 
that the solar system was first set in motion just six 
thousand years ago, and that the earth had fallen 
behind or been in advance of its designed and 
appointed speed only five seconds in running a million 
of miles, which would have been a small error indeed; 
yet at this date it would have amounted to more than 
six months, and our globe would have been at that 
point in her orbit marked by the first of January, 
when it should have been at that of the first of July. 
But no such reversion of seasons has taken place, 
therefore even this discrepance has not occurred; so 
that midsummer and midwinter are to us where they 
were to Noah in building the ark, and to Adam when 
roaming amid the beauties of Paradise." 

*'0 the depths of the riches both of the wisdom 
and the knowledge of God!" Can the Being who 
built this timekeeper think? Yes, God can think. 
Can God talk? Can He who made man, and endowed 
him with the powers of speech, Himself speak? Can 



334 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

He make known His thoughts to human intelligence? 
Is He who can think, dumb, and so hampered in His 
resources that He can not reveal Himself to His 
world and His creature man in language? If He is, 
then does He appear before the universe of intel- 
ligence as a very imperfect being, scarcely entitled to 
be called God, or reverenced as such. Can it be that 
God is able to think the greatest possible thoughts, 
and yet has no power to clothe His thoughts in the 
habiliments of speech? God can talk. 

But has God spoken to men? If not, it is because 
He would not, and this hypothesis impeaches His 
goodness. If a human father were to place a couple 
of his young children on an island in mid-ocean, 
without that wisdom that comes of experience, would 
he leave them without instruction and advice as to 
how to work out their destiny to the best advantage? 
If so, he would justly call down upon himself the 
execrations of mankind. He is acquainted with the 
problems of life, and laiows the dangers that beset 
people in this world, and is aware how best to meet 
and overcome them; and yet he abandons his children 
to themselves, and leaves them exposed to innumerable 
dangers seen and unseen, without a word of counsel, 
advice or admonition. No man would do it. And 
yet almighty God did that very thing, if He placed 
man in this world and left him to shift for himself 
without instruction as to the best way to work out the 
problems of life, and reach the goal of happiness! 
That our God and loving Father would do such a 
thing as that is improbable in the extreme. It is 
contrary to all just ideas of His benevolence and 
philanthropy, and clothes Him in a most unlovely 
disposition. The presumption is that, being able to 



THE BIBLE 335 

think and talk, and possessed of the attributes of love, 
kindness and philanthropy, He would speak to man, 
and that He has done it. 

But we have the direct and positive testimony of 
as trustworthy men as ever breathed the breath of 
life, that God did speak to them, and authorized them 
to make His sayings known to others. How many 
times is it written, ''The Lord spake unto Moses, 
saying," Moses himself being the writer who made the 
record. There is not a solitary circumstance to indi- 
cate that Moses was either mistaken or that he 
prevaricated. The Israelites were not always on the 
best of terms with their leader, and, if he was either 
deceived himself, or was deceiving them, they would 
have detected it, and exposed him. He led them out 
of Egypt under the claim that God had met with 
him, talked to him, and commissioned him to deliver 
them from their cruel bondage. For forty years, some 
of them stormy ones, he went in and out before 
them; and though they had frequent quarrels with 
him, they never questioned his alleged commission 
from Jehovah. Take the sayings of God out of the 
Pentateuch, and what is left is but a lifeless, power- 
less skeleton. 

The prophets of old declare that God talked to 
them, and commanded them to communicate His 
messages to the people. The evangelical Isaiah speaks 
as follows: ''Hear, heaven, and give ear, earth, 
for the Lord hath spoken: I have nourished and 
brought up children, and they have rebelled against 
me. The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his 
master's crib: but Israel doth not know, my people 
doth not consider.'' Again: "Come now, and let us 
reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be 

22 



336 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they 
be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If ye be 
willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the 
land; but if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured 
with the sword; for the mouth of the Lord hath 
spoken it." Once more from Isaiah: ''And the Lord 
spake unto me yet again, saying, Forasmuch as this 
people hath refused the waters of Shiloh that go 
softly, and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah's son; now 
therefore, behold, the Lord bringeth up upon them the 
waters of the River, strong and many, even the king 
of Assyria and all his glory: and he shall come up 
over all his channels, and go over all his banks: and 
he shall sweep onward into Judah; he shall overflow 
and pass through; he shall reach even to the neck; 
and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the 
breadth of thy land, Immanuel." 

Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, says: ''Moreover 
the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Jeremiah, 
what seest thou? And I said, I see a rod of an 
almond tree. Then said the Lord unto me. Thou 
hast well seen: for I watch over my word to perform 
it. And the word of the Lord came unto me the 
second time, saying, What seest thou? And I said, 
I see a seething caldron; and the face thereof is from 
the north. Then the Lord said unto me. Out of the 
north evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants 
of the land." Again the tearful man of God speaks 
thus: "Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly 
a right seed: how then art thou turned into the 
degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me? For 
though thou wash thee with lye, and take thee much 
soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before me, saith 
the Lord." Once more from the same source: "The 



THE BIBLE 337 

word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, 
Stand in the gate of the Lord's house, and proclaim 
there this word, and say. Hear the word of the Lord, 
all ye of Judah, that enter in at these gates to wor- 
ship the Lord." 

Ezekiel, the prophet of visions, testifies as follows: 
^'Now it came to pass in the thirteenth year, in the 
fourth month, as I was among the captives by the 
river Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I 
saw visions of God. In the fifth day of the month, 
which was the fifth year of king Jehoiachin's cap- 
tivity, the word of the Lord came expressly to Ezekiel 
the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chal- 
deans by the river Chebar." The same witness again 
says: "And it came to pass at the end of seven days, 
that the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son 
of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house 
of Israel: therefore hear the word of my mouth, and 
give them warning from me." Still further from 
the priest prophet: ''And the word of the Lord came 
unto me, saying, Son of man, set thy face toward the 
mountain of Israel, and prophesy unto them, and say. 
Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord.*' 

Daniel, the captive prophet, says : ' ' Daniel answered 
before the king, and said. The secret which the king 
hath demanded can neither wise men, enchanters, 
magicians, nor soothsayers, show unto the king; but 
there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and 
he hath made known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what 
shall be in the latter days." 

Hosea bears this testimony: ''The word of the 
Lord came unto Hosea the son of Beeri, in the days 
of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of 
Judah." 



338 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

Joel speaks thus: ''And the Lord answered and 
said unto his people, Behold, I will send you corn, 
and wine, and oil, and ye shall be satisfied therewith.'' 
''Thus saith the Lord: For three transgressions of 
Damascus, yea, for four, I will not turn away the 
punishment thereof" (Amos). "Thus saith the Lord 
God concerning Edom" (Obadiah). "Now the word 
of the Lord came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, 
saying" (Jonah). "The word of the Lord that came 
to Micah the Morashite in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, 
and Hezekiah, kings of Judah" (Micah). "The word 
of the Lord which came unto Zephaniah the son 
of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, 
the son of Hezekiah" (Zephaniah). Other quotations 
might be made from others of the prophets, but the 
foregoing is sufficient to satisfy all reasonable demands. 
And for bearing such testimony many of the witnesses 
brought down upon themselves the wrath of kings 
and the hatred of the people, and they were without 
motive to speak anything but the truth. 

The New Testament furnishes unmistakable and 
weighty testimony to the same fact. John the Baptist, 
who lost his head for rebuking unrighteousness, 
declares that God spoke to him and told him how he 
might know the Messiah. When Jesus was baptized, 
God broke the silence of heaven to say, "This is my 
beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased," and the 
same thing was repeated on the mount of transfigura- 
tion. When the Master prayed the Father to glorify 
His name through the Son, the answer came in audible 
words: "I have glorified it, and will glorify it again." 
The apostles claim to have received communications 
from God, which communications they committed to 
writing for the benefit of mankind, and, with possibly 



THE BIBLE 339 

one exception, they gave up their lives in the holy 
service they rendered. From the premises now before 
us we must conclude that God can think and talk, 
and that He could communicate with men if He 
wished to do so. We have found a reasonable pre- 
sumption that He would speak to His children on 
earth, and we have discovered from the most indubi- 
table evidence that, as a matter of fact, He has done 
so, and that we have in the Bible what He said. 

** Within this volume lies 
The mystery of mysteries; 
Happiest he of human race 
To whom God has given grace 
To read, to fear, to hope, to pray, 
To lift the latch and learn the way; 
And better had he ne'er been born 
Who reads to doubt or reads to scorn." 

—Scott. 



THE INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE 
A LECTURE 

BUT few religious subjects have received more 
attention at the hands of Christian writers, or 
given rise to greater diversity of opinion, than that 
of inspiration. The literature of the subject is abun- 
dant, as might be expected in view of the importance 
and significance of the question. It would be neither 
proper nor profitable, on this occasion, to enter upon 
a discussion of the nature of inspiration, for here is 
where we encounter various and conflicting opinions, 
and perhaps nothing very satisfactory could be elicited 
by the fullest investigation that we could give the 
subject in the time to which we are necessarily limited. 
And practically it is not at all essential that we 
understand the nature of inspiration, for we can be 
assured of inspiration in the Bible, and enjoy its 
benefits, without comprehending its inherent nature, 
just as we can have and enjoy many material bless- 
ings without knowing the secret of their production. 
But, in the investigation of any subject, it is 
necessary to have a definition that will serve as a 
practical working basis, for otherwise our labor would 
be liable to be nothing more than beating the air. 
As practically accurate and exhaustive, I accept the 
definition of inspiration given by that logical thinker 
and profound scholar. Prof. Archibald Alexander, who 
says that it is ^^such a divine' influence upon the minds 
of the sacred writers as rendered them exempt from 

340 



THE INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE 341 

error, in regard to both the ideas and words.'' This 
conception of inspiration relieves it of a difficulty 
that has given some good thinkers perplexity in their 
reflections upon the subject. The attentive student 
of the Scriptures can not fail to notice the presence 
of individuality of authorship in these writings, as 
seen in the different styles that characterize the several 
productions. It has occurred to some, and that not 
without reason, that if the Holy Spirit dictated what 
was written, selecting not only the thoughts to be 
recorded, but the words to be employed in making the 
record, there would be but one style throughout all 
documents thus produced, the writer simply perform- 
ing the function of a stenographer. But the view 
embraced in Dr. Alexander's definition left the writer 
perfectly free in the exercise of his individuality, and 
the employment of his own peculiar style, and free 
in the choice of his words within limits which guarded 
him from mistake. This gives us inspiration which 
assures us of infallibility in the Book which we accept 
as our guide in spiritual matters. 

And here emerges the question, Have we an 
inspired and infallible Bible — a Bible free from error 
and bearing to us the truth on all matters upon which 
it speaks? This is a very vital and far-reaching ques- 
tion, and upon the answer which the inquirer gets 
to it will depend the reliability of the convictions 
that he bases upon it. If the Book is inspired and 
infallible, and we do not err in our interpretation and 
application of it, the foundation of our faith and 
practice, if fashioned thereby, is sure and stedfast, 
and the hope based thereupon anchors the soul to 
the eternal verities of the kingdom of God. On the 
other hand, if the Bible is neither inspired nor 



342 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

infallible, or only inspired and infallible in part, then 
are we sailing upon a shoreless sea without certain 
chart or compass, and can not be sure as to the port 
in which we shall finally anchor. 

At this point in our investigation it is expedient 
to distinguish between inspiration in a speaker and 
inspiration in a writer. When the speaker is also 
the writer, then of course both are inspired; but 
when the speaker is one person and the writer another, 
the writer may be inspired and the speaker not. 
Some speeches of Satan are recorded in the Bible, but 
of course his Satanic majesty was not inspired of God 
to make the speeches, though the recorder of them 
was inspired to make the record, and the record is 
inspired and infallibly correct. Even in some cases 
in which the speaker and the writer were identical, 
the speech was not inspired of God, though the record 
of it was. The recognition of this principle will save 
the believer in the inspiration of the Bible from 
serious embarrassment in regard to some parts of the 
record. Take, for instance, the imprecatory Psalms 
of David, in which he prayed that all kinds of mis- 
fortune might overtake his enemies and their children. 
The following words teem with anger, hatred and 
malevolence : 

''Hold not thy peace, God of my praise; for the 
mouth of the wicked and the mouth of deceit have 
they opened against me: they have spoken unto me 
with a lying tongue. They compassed me about also with 
words of hatred, and fought against me without a 
cause: for my love they are my adversaries: but I 
give myself unto prayer. And they have rewarded 
me evil for good, and hatred for my love. Set thou 
a wicked man over him: and let an adversary stand 



THE INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE 343 

on his right hand. When he is judged, let him come 
forth guilty ; and let his prayer be turned into sin. 
Let his days be few; and let another take his office. 
Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow. 
Let his children be vagabonds and beg; and let 
them seek their bread out of their desolate places. 
Let the extortioner catch all that he hath; and let 
strangers make spoil of his labor. Let there be none 
to extend mercy unto him; neither let there be any 
to have pity on his fatherless children" (Ps. 109 : 1-12). 
Sentiments are expressed here that can not be 
justified on any principle that God has ever given 
for the government of men in their relations to one 
another. Who can believe that the widow's God and 
the orphan's Father would inspire a man to pray that 
fatherless children might be vagabonds in the earth 
and have none to show them pity? David was a man 
of like passions with the rest of the human family, 
and he sometimes gave way to them. He confessed 
that he was hasty when he said, "All men are liars," 
and he did several very dastardly things in regard 
to his faithful friend and soldier Uriah. He was a 
man of strong impulses, and when he got to reflecting 
upon the treatment that he had received from his 
enemies, the impulse of hatred overcame him and he 
gave way to it simply as a human being possessed of 
the moral infirmities that belong to our common 
humanity. But God inspired him to make record 
of this outburst of passion as a warning to others, 
no doubt, and to present a true portraiture of human 
character. This preserves the inspiration of the Bible 
intact, and at the same time saves it from the 
reproaches of its enemies. It is perfectly correct and 
reliable in all its statements. 



344 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

It is well also to note here that there is a differ- 
ence between inspiration and revelation. Dr. Alex- 
ander makes this discrimination lucidly in the follow- 
ing paragraph: 

**A11 revelations are not made by a suggestion of 
truth to the mind of an individual. God often spake 
to people of old by audible voices, and communicated 
His will by the mission of angels. Many persons have 
thus received divine revelations who had no preten- 
sions to inspiration. All the people of Israel who 
stood before God at Mount Sinai heard His voice 
uttering the Ten Commandments, and yet no one 
would say that all these men were inspired. So also 
when Christ was upon earth, in more instances than 
one, a voice was heard declaring that He was the 
beloved Son of God. Indeed, all who had the oppor- 
tunity of hearing Christ's discourses might be said 
to receive a revelation immediately from God; but it 
would be absurd to say that all these were inspired. 
Dr. Dick is of opinion that the word 'revelation' 
would be more expressive, as being more comprehen- 
sive, than 'suggestion,' which last conveys the idea of 
an operation on the mind; whereas truth, in many 
cases, was made known in other ways. But, for the 
reason stated above, it would not do to substitute the 
word 'revelation' for 'inspiration'; inasmuch as mul- 
titudes received revelations who had no claim to 
inspiration. And when inspiration is confined to those 
who wrote the books of Scripture, no other word 
would so clearly express the idea." 

Specific prediction necessarily implies inspiration 
on the part of the prophet. I do not refer to those 
forecastings of the future that simply follow the 
natural course of events to their legitimate results. 



THE INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE 345 

The statesman who understands the philosophy of 
history, and who is a close observer of human events 
and their tendency to produce certain results, can 
foresee the logical results of given transactions between 
men and nations. Long before the declaration of 
American independence and the booming of the first 
cannon in the Revolutionary War, there were those 
who were sure that that saguinary struggle was bound 
to come. They saw it foreshadowed in taxation with- 
out representation, and the tea party that was pulled 
off in Boston Bay indicated the rising of a war cloud 
that would finally burst and deluge the colonies in 
the blood of American patriots. Years before the 
secession of South Carolina and the firing upon Fort 
Sumter it was perfectly evident to the minds of many 
that fratricidal war between the North and the South 
was inevitable. Henry Clay and others saw the 
shadow that coming events cast before, and lifted up 
the voice of warning that was not heeded. 

These forecastings, however, were not predictions 
in the strict and proper sense of the term. By predic- 
tion I mean the foretelling of events that human 
sagacity could not work out of passing circumstances 
— events that the current of history does not seem to 
point to. Some such events have already been con- 
sidered from another viewpoint in a previous lecture. 
When the overthrow and utter destruction of Babylon 
and Nineveh were foretold by prophets of God, there 
was no human likelihood that such would be the case. 
Those cities seemed to have as good a prospect for 
perpetual existence then, as London or New York has 
now. The same is true in regard to the city of Jeru- 
salem, whose utter destruction Jesus predicted nearly 
a half-century before the catastrophe came. No wis- 



346 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

dom short of divine wisdom could have lifted the 
curtain that conceals the future from the ken of 
men, and discovered that those ancient cities would 
ere the lapse of many centuries succumb to the devas- 
tating hand of the destroyer. 

The fate of Jerusalem is especially interesting in 
this connection. When the Son of man walked her 
streets she seemed to stand as secure upon her rocky 
foundations as the everlasting hills themselves, and 
to human vision Chicago has no brighter prospect 
of standing through the coming ages than ''the city 
of the great King" had when Jesus looked down upon 
her from the mountainside and shed tears of sym- 
pathy over her approaching doom. The prophecy was 
particular and minute, and it was particularly and 
minutely fulfilled, and it is still in process of fulfill- 
ment. It was to be trodden down by the Gentiles 
until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in, and such 
has been its condition from then till now; and no 
thoughtful person can seriously reflect upon these 
circumstances without clearly perceiving that it was 
infallibility that enabled the Master to predict and 
depict them with such precision. 

There is another city in regard to which the evi- 
dences of prediction are strikingly manifest; namely. 
Tyre, one of the ancient cities concerning which our 
Lord said that if the mighty works had been done 
in them that were done in some of the cities of His 
day and country, they would have remained till His 
time. Tyre was a city of Phoenicia situated on the 
eastern coast of the Mediterranean, and was a city of 
great commercial and political importance. It was 
really a double city, part of it situated on the main- 
land, and a part on a near-by island in which was 



THE INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE 347 

built the temple of Hercules. One of the kings 
(Hiram) maintained very friendly relations with 
David and Solomon, and rendered conspicuous service 
in the building of the temple in Jerusalem. It planted 
a colony of its enterprising people on the northern 
coast of Africa, thus starting the great city of Car- 
thage, and subjugated the island of Cyprus, where rich 
copper mines were opened. The fact that Shal- 
maneser and Nebuchadnezzar both laid siege to the 
city without subduing it, though the siege of the latter 
lasted for thirteen years, shows how strongly it was 
fortified, and gives additional emphasis to Scripture 
predictions concerning its overthrow. 

God lifted the curtain that hides the future and 
allowed Ezekiel to see what awaited this great and 
powerful city, and the prophet wrote its future his- 
tory as follows: ''Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, 
I am against thee, Tyrus, and will cause many 
nations to come against thee, as the sea causeth his 
waves to come up; and they shall destroy the walls 
of Tyrus, and break down her towers; and I will 
scrape her dust from her, and make her like the top 
of a rock: it shall be a place for the spreading of 
nets in the midst of the sea; for I have spoken it, 
saith the Lord. ... I will make thee like the top 
of a rock; thou shalt be a place to spread nets upon; 
thou shalt be built no more, for I the Lord hath 
spoken it, saith the Lord God. ... I will make thee 
a terror, and thou shalt be no more: Though thou be 
sought for, yet thou shalt never be found again, saith 
the Lord God'' (Ezek. 26). 

The boldness and confidence of this prophecy are 
most remarkable in view of the stable character of 
the city as just indicated. No one would ever have 



348 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

dared make such predictions without being directed 
by divine wisdom. But the subsequent history of the 
city corresponds to the prophecy in the minutest 
details. Volney, who can not be suspected of any 
desire to prove the inspiration of the Bible, says of 
Tyre: ''The vicissitudes of time, or, rather, the bar- 
barisms of the Greeks of the lower empire, have accom- 
plished their prediction. Instead of that ancient 
commerce so active and so extensive. Tyre, reduced 
to a miserable village, has no other trade than the 
exportation of a few sacks of corn and raw cotton; 
nor any merchant but a single Greek factor, who 
scarcely makes sufficient profit to maintain his family. 
. . . The whole village of Tyre contains only fifty or 
sixty families, who live obscurely on the produce of 
their little grounds and a small fishery." Bruce 
describes the city as a ''rock whereon fishers dry 
their nets," the historian using practically the same 
language as the prophet. 

Cotovicus, a Dutch traveler, who visited Syria in 
1598, says "that this city, so often restored after 
being overthrown, now at length appears to be utterly 
ruined; so that it has ceased to be any longer a city, 
and only some inconsiderable vestiges of her former 
ruins are now visible. If you except a few arches and 
baths, and some ruined walls, and collapsed towers, 
and mere rubbish, there is now nothing of Tyre to be 
discerned." Dr. Shaw visited Tyre, and could find 
not even a secure port or harbor anywhere in the 
vicinity. But Maundrell's description of the utter 
ruin of the city, and the minute details of the ful- 
fillment of prophecy in its destruction, are perhaps 
the most impressive and interesting that we have. He 
says: "This city, standing in the sea, on a peninsula, 



THE INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE 349 

at a distance promises something very magnificent; 
but when you come nearer, you find no similitude of 
that glory for which it was so renowned in ancient 
times, and which the prophet Ezekiel describes in the 
twenty-sixth, twenty-seventh and twenty-eighth chap- 
ters of his prophecy. On the north side, it has an 
old, ungarrisoned Turkish castle, besides which you 
see nothing but a mere Babel of broken walls, pillars, 
vaults, etc., there being not so much as one entire 
house left; its present inhabitants are only a few 
poor wretches, harboring themselves in the vaults, 
and subsisting chiefly on fishing, who seem to be pre- 
served in this place, by Divine Providence, as a visible 
argument how God has fulfilled His word concerning 
Tyre, that it should be 'as the top of a rock, a place 
for fishers to dry their nets on.' *' 

The fulfillment of prophecy concerning the Jewish 
nation is interesting and instructive in this connec- 
tion. Moses uttered some very specific predictions 
respecting the Israelites, which are recorded in the 
twenty-sixth chapter of Leviticus and the twenty- 
eighth chapter of Deuteronomy. I direct your atten- 
tion to a few of the conspicuous ones, together with 
their historical fulfillment: *'The Lord shall bring a 
nation against thee from afar, from the end of the 
earth, as swift as the eagle flieth; a nation whose 
tongue thou shalt not understand." This prophecy 
found its accomplishment in the invasion of Judea 
by the Chaldeans and by the Romans, but particularly 
the latter. In predicting the Chaldean invasion Jere- 
miah uses language almost identical with that of 
Moses. He says: "Lo, I will bring a nation upon you 
from afar, house of Israel, saith the Lord; it is 
an ancient nation, a nation whose language thou 



350 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

knowest not." Again he says: ''Our persecutors are 
swifter than the eagles of the heavens." This applies 
with remarkable propriety to the Romans, who were 
a nation from afar, whose movements were swift and 
their conqnests rapid, and whose language the Jews 
did not understand. Quite generally the enemies of 
the Jews were characterized as ''a nation of fierce 
countenance, who shall not regard the person of the 
old, nor show favor to the young" — a description that 
admirably suits the Chaldeans. 2 Chron. 36 ; 17 
declares that God sent against the Jews *'the king 
of the Chaldeans, who slew their young men with the 
sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no 
compassion upon young man or maiden, old man, 
nor him that stooped for age." The Romans also 
treated the Jews very cruelly. Josephus says that 
when Vespasian came to Gadara, **he slew all, man 
by man, the Romans showing mercy to no age." Thus 
we see how remarkably the prophecies were fulfilled, 
thus furnishing unmistakable evidence of the inspira- 
tion of the prophets. 

The besieging and taking of the cities of the Jews 
were foretold with wonderful exactitude: ''And he 
shall besiege thee in all thy gates until thy high and 
fenced walls come down, wherein thou trustedst." 
This was amply fulfilled by Shalmaneser, king of 
Assyria, who besieged Samaria and took it; by Sen- 
nacherib, who laid siege to all the fenced cities of 
Judah, and by Nebuchadnezzar, who took Jerusalem, 
burned the temple, and broke down the walls of the 
city. In their sieges the Israelites were, according to 
prophecy, to suffer very greatly from famine, and 
sacred history informs us that, in the famine con- 
nected with the siege of Samaria, ''an ass' head was 



THE INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE 351 

sold for fourscore pieces of silver." When Jerusalem 
was besieged by Nebuchadnezzar, the famine was so 
severe that there *'was no bread for the people of 
the land." It was foretold that in these famines 
mothers would eat their own offspring. Moses said: 
**Ye shall eat the flesh of your sons and your daugh- 
ters." The spirit of prophecy also said: ^'The tender 
and the delicate woman among you, who would not 
venture to set the sole of her foot upon the ground 
for delicateness and tenderness . . . she shall eat her 
children for want of all things secretly in the siege 
and straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress 
thee in thy gates." Six hundred years after this 
remarkable prediction it was fulfilled in the siege of 
Samaria by the king of Syria, when two women cove- 
nanted to give up their children to be eaten, and 
one of them was actually eaten. It had its second 
fulfillment nine hundred years after its utterance by 
Moses, when the Chaldeans besieged Jerusalem. Jere- 
miah says: "The hands of the pitiful women have 
sodden their own children." And six hundred years 
later still, as we are informed by Josephus, when 
Jerusalem was besieged by the Romans, a noble woman 
killed and cooked her sucking child, and, having eaten 
half of it, secreted the other half for another meal. 
Perhaps a prophecy less likely to be fulfilled was 
never uttered, for if there was anything that the 
Jews loathed it was the idea of eating human flesh, 
and especially the flesh of their o^vn children. 

It was also predicted that large numbers of the 
Jews were to be destroyed in these wars and famines: 
'*And ye shall be left few in number, whereas ye 
were as the stars of heaven for multitude." In the 
siege of Jerusalem by Titus it is estimated that one 

23 



352 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

million one hundred thousand people perished by 
pestilence, the sword and famine; and perhaps never 
since the beginning of creation did so many people 
lose their lives in one siege as in this, thus verifying 
the declaration of the Saviour that there would be 
''great tribulation, such as hath not been from the 
beginning of the world until now, no, nor ever shall 
be." The siege began about the time of the beginning 
of the celebration of the Passover, and this is the 
reason that so many people were shut up in Jerusalem 
to undergo the fearful calamities that were coming 
upon them. 

It was likewise foretold by Moses that the Jews 
would be carried back to Egypt and sold for a mere 
trifle per head, even specifying the method of their 
transportation in the following language: *'And the 
Lord shall bring thee into Egypt again with ships, 
where ye shall be sold to your enemies for bondmen 
and bondwomen, and no man shall buy you.'* We 
learn from Josephus that when the city was captured, 
the captives over seventeen years of age were sent to 
the works in Egypt, but that eleven thousand of them 
perished for lack of proper care. The market was 
overstocked, and they were sold for the merest pit- 
tance. While the historian does not say that the 
Jewish captives were transported to Egypt in ships, 
there is a probability, amounting in strength almost to 
a historical certainty, that such was the cause, for the 
Romans had a fleet in the Mediterranean at that time, 
and that would be the most expeditious and economical 
method of conveyance. The particularity of these 
prophecies and fulfillments can not fail to get and 
hold the attention of the student of such matters. 



THE INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE 353 

Moses also predicted that the descendants of the 
people that he brought out of Egypt, and for whose 
entrance into the promised land he made provision, 
would be extirpated from their own country and 
scattered among the nations of the earth: ''And ye 
shall be plucked from off the land whither thou goest 
to possess it. And the Lord shall scatter thee among 
aU people, from one end of the earth, even unto the 
other." The fulfillment of this prophecy is one of 
the most remarkable in the record. One of the main 
purposes of the rationalistic critics in trying to mod- 
ernize the dates of the writings attributed to Moses 
is to get rid as far as possible of prediction. But the 
very latest date that they have attempted to fix, 
leaves a margin of more than four hundred years for 
the prophecy before the fulfillment, thus showing that 
whoever made the predictions must have been inspired 
of God. The dispersion of the Jews was completed 
when the Romans in about the year A. D. 70 took 
away their ''place and nation," and scattered them 
abroad in the earth. 

By a public decree the Roman Emperor Adrian 
disallowed the Jews on pain of death to enter Jeru- 
salem, or even to approach the surrounding country, 
and in the third century of the Christian era they 
were not allowed to enter Judea, and since then but 
few Israelites have inhabited the Holy Land. To-day 
they are wandering exiles from the country that was 
once theirs, and in which they were happy and pros- 
perous whenever and as long as they obeyed God, 
and are scattered throughout pretty much every coun- 
try on the face of the globe. But it was also prophe- 
sied that, notwithstanding their dispersion and hard- 
ships, they should remain a separate and distinct 



354 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

people. The prophet said: "And yet for all that, 
when they be in the land of their enemies, I will not 
cast them away, neither will I abhor them, to destroy 
them utterly, and to break my covenant with them." 
Commenting upon this wonderful prophecy. Bishop 
Newton says: ''What a marvelous thing is this, that 
after so many wars, battles and sieges; after so many 
rebellions, massacres and persecutions; after so many 
years of captivity, slavery and misery — they are not 
'destroyed utterly,' and though scattered among all 
people, yet subsist a distinct people by themselves! 
Where is anything like this to be found in all the 
histories, and in all the nations under the sun?'' 

The prophecy further declares that *'they should 
be oppressed and crushed always; that their sons and 
their daughters should be given to another people; 
that they should be mad for the sight of their eyes, 
which they should see." Commenting on these predic- 
tions. Dr. Alexander says: "Nothing has been more 
common, in all countries where the Jews have resided, 
than to fine, fleece and oppress them at will; and in 
Spain and Portugal their children have been taken 
from them by order of the Government, to be edu- 
cated in the popish religion. The instances in which 
their oppressions have driven them to madness are too 
numerous to be stated in detail." The prophecy 
further states that the Jews should be everywhere in 
an uneasy and restless condition, and should not abide 
long in any one place: "And among these nations 
shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy 
foot have rest." Dr. Alexander speaks as follows of 
this prophecy: **How exactly has this been verified in 
the case of this unhappy people, even to this day! 
There is scarcely a country in Europe from which 



THE INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE 355 

they have not been banished, at one time or another. 
To say nothing of many previous scenes of bloodshed 
and banishment, of the most shocking kind, through 
which great multitudes of this devoted people passed 
in Germany, France and Spain, in the thirteenth and 
fourteenth centuries, eight hundred thousand Jews are 
said, by the Spanish historian, to have been banished 
from Spain by Ferdinand and Isabella. And how 
often, when tolerated by government, they have suf- 
fered by the tumults of the people, it is impossible 
to enumerate." The persecutions they are suffering 
in Russia to-day is in line with their history elsewhere 
and at other times. 

In conclusion on this point, Moses likewise pre- 
dicted that these people should become an astonish- 
ment, a proverb and a byword among all nations, and 
this is borne out in a most astonishing manner in 
their checkered history. They are literally '*a proverb 
and a byword" everywhere, and among all people. 
''That beats the Jews" is a common adage throughout 
the civilized world. Dr. Alexander says: "Moham- 
medans, heathens and Christians, however they may 
differ in other things, have been agreed in vilifying, 
abusing and persecuting the Jews. Surely the judg- 
ments visited on this peculiar people have been won- 
derful and of long continuance. For nearly eighteen 
hundred years they have been in this miserable state 
of banishment, dispersion and persecution." 

The prophecy of Isaiah concerning the restoration 
of the Israelites to their own land, after seventy years* 
captivity in Babylon, is particularly important and 
significant in this connection. Even the monarch 
under whose auspices the restoration and rebuilding 
of Jerusalem were to take place, was mentioned by name 



356 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

in the prophecy: *'Thus saith the Lord, thy redeemer, 
and he that formed thee from the womb : I am the Lord, 
that maketh all things ; that stretcheth forth the heavens 
alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth; who is with 
me? that frustrateth the tokens of the liars, and 
maketh the diviners mad; that turneth wise men back- 
ward, and maketh their knowledge foolish; that con- 
firmeth the word of his servant, and performeth the 
counsel of his messengers; that saith of Jerusalem, 
She shall be inhabited; and of the cities of Judah, 
They shall be built, and I will raise up the waste 
places thereof; that saith to the deep. Be dry, and I 
will dry up thy rivers; that saith of Cyrus, He is my 
shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure; even 
saying of Jerusalem, She shall be built; and to the 
temple. Thy foundation shall be laid." This prophecy 
is wonderful in the circumstantiality of its details, 
and it furnishes a foundation both sure and stedfast 
for our faith in the inspiration of the Bible. Fully 
one hundred and fifty years intervened between Isaiah 
and Cyrus, and yet the prophet knew him by name 
and was acquainted with what he would do with 
regard to the Jews. This is so powerful an evidence 
of inspiration that the only escape for rationalistic 
criticism is to deny that Isaiah the prophet wrote it, 
and this they do, but do not pretend to know who 
did write it. Their claim is without the least his- 
torical support, and the ''great unknown" has no 
place except in the mythology of radical criticism. 

Josephus informs us that when Cyrus captured 
Babylon the predictions regarding himself were made 
known to him, and that he was overwhelmingly 
impressed that the writing was divine. This led the 
prince to treat the children of Israel with great kind- 



THE INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE 357 

ness, permitting them to return to Palestine, and 
furnishing them with facilities for rebuilding the 
temple. Ezra gives the following account of Cyrus' 
course in this transaction: ''Now in the first year of 
Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord 
by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, the 
Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, 
that he made a proclamation throughout all his king- 
dom, and put it also in writing, saying, Thus saith 
Cyrus king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth 
hath the Lord, the God of heaven, given me; and he 
hath charged me to build him a house in Jerusalem, 
which is in Judah. Whosoever there is among you 
of all his people, his God be with him, and let him 
go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the 
house of the Lord, the God of Israel (he is God), 
which is in Jerusalem." This whole transaction, from 
its beginning in prophecy to its consummation in his- 
tory, is luminous with unmistakable evidence that 
Jehovah was in it, and that it was carried on under 
His supervision. One of the distinguished writers 
already quoted has this to say: ''What nation hath 
subsisted as a distinct people in their own country 
so long as these have done in their dispersion into 
all countries? And what a standing miracle is thus 
exhibited to the view and observation of the whole 
world! . . . Here are instances of prophecies delivered 
above three thousand years ago, and yet, as we see, 
being fulfilled in the world at this very time ; and what 
stronger proof can we desire of the divine legation 
of Moses? How these instances may affect others, I 
know not, but for myself I must acknowledge they 
not only convince me, but amaze and astonish me 
beyond expression." 



358 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

I will conclude this lecture by referring to some 
prophecies concerning Christ, and their fulfillment, 
although there is not time enough left to do this 
branch of the subject anything like justice. These 
prophecies are very numerous, and I can only call 
attention to a few of the more striking ones. Let 
us begin with the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah: 

''Who hath believed our report? and to whom hath 
the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he grew up 
before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a 
dry ground; he hath no form nor comeliness; and 
when we see him, there is no beauty that we should 
desire him. He was despised, and rejected of men; 
a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and as 
one from whom men hide their face he was despised, 
and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our 
griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem 
him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he 
was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised 
for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was 
upon him; and by his stripes we are healed. All we 
like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every 
one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him 
the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, yet he hum- 
bled himself and opened not his mouth; as a lamb 
that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep before 
Iier shearers is dumb; yea, he opened not his mouth. 
By oppression and judgment he. was taken away; and 
as for his generation, who among them considered that 
he was cut ofP out of the land of the living? for the 
transgression of my people was he stricken. And they 
made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in 
his death; although he had done no violence, neither 
was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord 



THE INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE 359 

to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou 
shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see 
his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure 
of the Lord shall prosper in his hands. He shall see 
of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by 
his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify 
many; and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore 
will I divide him a portion with the great, and he 
shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he 
poured out his soul unto death, and was numbered 
with the transgressors: yet he bare the sin of many, 
and made intercession for the transgressors." 

What a broad, pathetic, circumstantial and far- 
reaching prophecy this is! And even if some ^* great 
unknown" wrote it, instead of the historical prophet 
Isaiah, it was confessedly written four or five cen- 
turies before the Saviour lived on the earth; and yet 
it is as accurate and detailed as if it had been written 
after the crucifixion of the Lord of glory! 

David portrayed the betrayal of Christ by a former 
friend, in the following language: "Yea, mine own 
familiar friend, in whom I trusted, who did eat of 
my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me." This 
clearly points to Judas as the betrayer. Even the 
price that the betrayer was to get for betraying him 
is specified as follows: "So they weighed for my hire 
thirty pieces of silver. And Jehovah said unto me; 
Cast it unto the potter, the goodly price that I was 
prized at by them. And I took the thirty pieces of 
silver, and cast them unto the potter, in the house 
of Jehovah." This receives accurate fulfillment in 
the facts that Judas got thirty pieces of silver for 
his nefarious work, and that after the awful tragedy 
he took them into the temple and cast them down 



360 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

there, and that they were used to purchase a potter's 
field to bury strangers in. In the thirty-fourth Psalm 
it is predicted that the Messiah's bones should not be 
broken in His execution, according to the prevailing 
custom; and we learn from the sacred record that, 
notwithstanding the bones of those who were crucified 
with Him were broken, His bones were not. This is 
a remarkable and impressive fact in connection with 
the whole transaction. 

The twenty-second Psalm indicates what disposi- 
tion would be made of Christ's garments, as follows: 
''They part my garments among them, and upon my 
vesture do they cast lots." We find the soldiers who 
crucified Him doing this very thing, thus furnishing 
strong testimony to the inspiration of the man who 
made the prediction. The Galilean ministry of Jesus 
is described by Isaiah thus: ''But there shall be no 
gloom to her that was in anguish. In the former 
time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun 
and the land of Naphtali: but in the latter time he 
hath made it glorious, by the way of the sea, beyond 
the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. The people that 
walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that 
dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them 
hath the light shined." The fourth chapter of Mat- 
thew records the fulfillment of this prophecy in very 
explicit terms. In the sixty-ninth Psalm we find this 
language: "They gave me also gall for my food; and 
in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink." Mat- 
thew, Mark, Luke and John all record the accomplish- 
ment of this prophecy in connection with the cruci- 
fixion. Jeremiah foretold the massacre of the chil- 
dren in and about Bethlehem in the following graphic 
language: "A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation, 



THE INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE 361 

and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children; 
she refuseth to be comforted for her children, because 
they are not." The history of the fulfillment runs 
thus: ''Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked 
of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, 
and slew all the male children that were in Bethlehem, 
and in all the borders thereof, from two years old 
and under, according to the time which he had 
exactly learned of the wise men." Isaiah predicted 
the birth of Jesus of a virgin in the following terms: 
''Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign: 
behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and 
shall call his name Immanuel." You are familiar 
with the facts in this case as recorded in the New 
Testament. 

The place of His birth was also foretold minutely: 
**But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, which art little to 
be among the thousands of Judah, out of thee shall 
one come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel" 
(Mic. 5:2). Such was the case notwithstanding its 
improbabilities. The fact that His side was pierced 
was predicted: "And one shall say unto him. What 
are these wounds between thine arms? Then he shall 
answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house 
of my friends" (Zech. 13:6). David foretold His 
prayer for His enemies: '*For my love they are my 
adversaries; but I give myself unto prayer." His 
triumphal entry into Jerusalem was foretold by Zech- 
ariah: "Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion; shout, 
daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy king cometh 
unto thee: he is just and having salvation; lowly, 
and riding on an ass, even upon a colt the foal of an 
ass." You are acquainted with the history as recorded 
in the New Testament. 



362 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

Thus the inspiration of the Bible is established to 
a certainty, and we can praise G-od for His goodness 
in giving us this Book to guide us in the way of 
truth and righteousness. 



4 



THE PROVINCE OF THE HUMAN 
MIND IN RELIGION 

A LECTURE 

SOME one has said that there is nothing great in 
the world but man, and nothing great in man 
but mind. Allowing mind to include man's moral 
and spiritual nature, this thought is true, grand and 
beautiful. As a system of animated machinery the 
human body is something to be admired for its ten 
thousand adaptations to the accomplishment of as 
many ends. But it scarcely has a feature that is not 
excelled by one or more of the animals. In strength 
it is weakness itself in comparison with the elephant. 
In speed it is eclipsed by the greyhound. In powers 
of endurance it is thrown into the shade by the ox 
and mule. In sharpness and strength of vision it is 
surpassed by the eagle. In keenness and quickness 
of scent it is easily led by the pointer dog. In things 
that are merely physical, man, by comparison, is a 
very inferior being. 

But when he is regarded as an intellectual crea- 
ture, he at once takes his place at the head of all 
things that belong to earth. To reason from cause to 
effect, and from effect back to cause, is a power that 
dignifies and glorifies the human mind. In invention, 
in adaptation of means to ends, in the field of dis- 
covery, in the matter of understanding and appre- 
ciating nature, in ability to lay hold of God and to 
even feebly apprehend Him, the mind of man occupies 

363 



364 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

a sphere all its own. It can not create in the absolute 
sense; it can not call worlds into existence and clothe 
them in beauty and glory; it can not so speak as to 
cause a delicate flower to spring forth respendent in 
color and charming in perfume; it can not so order 
that, in response to its behest, a bird will come forth 
in gorgeousness of plumage and sweetness of song. 
But in large part it can follow the footprints of the 
Creator, discover His workmanship, and delight itself 
in a knowledge of His works. 

The human intellect can roam the starry heavens, 
and, with compass, measuring-line and scales in hand, 
measure the distances of the planets, stars, suns, and 
systems of worlds from one another, take their dimen- 
sions and weight, and determine their courses and 
bounds. One of the greatest achievements of modern 
science was the discovery of the planet Neptune. It 
had been noticed by astronomers that there were 
irregularities and disturbances in the movements of 
Uranus, which was the frontier planet of the solar 
system as then known. Study of these phenomena 
led to the conclusion that there was a large planet 
lying outside the orbit of Uranus, whose power of 
attraction caused the eccentricities noticed in the move- 
ment of Uranus. On this hypothesis two men — 
Leverier in France, and Adams in England — assigned 
to themselves the task of discovering the disturbing 
stranger. Having determined by careful calculation 
about where the unknown body must be to produce 
the effects noticed, great telescopes were trained upon 
that part of the heavens, and, behold! there was 
Neptune leisurely moving along at the immense dis- 
tance of nearly two billions and eight hundred mil- 
lions of miles from the sun! Well might Professor 



HUMAN MIND IN RELIGION 365 

Harris say that this one achievement more than argues 
the divine paternity of the human mind. 

Here let us institute and prosecute an inquiry as 
to the province and ability of this greatest of man's 
possessions in its relations to the realm of religion. 
In this field we find that the mind of man, great and 
wonderful as it is, has not the power of creation. 
That is, it can not create a true religion — a religion 
adapted to his nature and needs — a religion whose 
results in forming character and shaping life are 
satisfactory. This is attested by all history, and I 
must be content with the statement of the fact, with- 
out attempting to prove it here. The skilled painter 
can put a sunset scene on canvas with his magic 
brush, but in its best estate it falls very far short of 
the western splendor and glory that Nature paints 
upon the sky. The expert sculptor may hew a man 
out of a block of marble, but there is no flash of 
light and life in the eye, no rose tint on the cheek, 
no pulsation of vigor in the veins, no words of elo- 
quence and power dropping from the tongue like the 
drippings of the honeycomb. The artificial man pales 
into nothingness when compared with the natural man. 
So it is as regards the human mind in respect to the 
domain of religion. With all of its inventive genius 
its every creation in this field is artificial, and fails 
to satisfy. 

In philosophy, science, art, political economy, etc., 
the mind of man has made discoveries that have been 
of incalculable benefit to the human race. In dealing 
with material things, and even with purely mental 
phenomena, the accomplishments of man have already 
reached the marvelous; and what remains to be 
achieved along these lines the future alone can reveaL 



366 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

But as to finding out God and discovering the true 
relations that exist between Him as Creator, and man 
as creature, all human efforts have been conspicuous 
and signal failures. Indeed, when we consider the 
intellectual powers of man in their relations to the 
material universe, and view them in their operations 
in the sphere of the natural sciences, we can not fail 
to notice the limitations by which they are circum- 
scribed. Though human knowledge is vast, when it is 
brought into contrast with universal truth how con- 
tracted it becomes! What we know about our own 
solar system is microscopic in comparison with what 
we do not know in regard to it. How little we know 
of the history, the conditions, the functions, the 
inhabitants of Jupiter, or Saturn, or even Mars! The 
reversionary movement of the satellites of Uranus is 
a perplexing phenomenon to modern astronomy, and 
only unsatisfactory theories have been propounded in 
explanation of it. 

There is almost unlimited territory, in the domain 
ruled by the sun, that man has not yet explored, and 
about which he knows little or nothing. And when 
he transcends the limits of this little system, and 
tries to think about the regions that lie beyond; when 
he undertakes to grasp the idea of infinite space with 
its infinite contents; and when he sees that it is as 
difficult to think of space as limited, as it is to com- 
prehend it as unlimited — ^he stands appalled and 
paralyzed in the presence of the problems that rise 
before him. The celebrated saying of Newton, the 
** childlike sage,'* is in place here: ''I do not know 
what I may appear to the world, but to myself I 
seem to have been only a boy playing on the seashore, 
and diverting myself in now and then finding a 



HUMAN MIND IN RELIGION 367 

smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, 
while the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered 
before me." There is a shoreless ocean of unnavigated 
truth by the side of which all that we know is reduced 
to the dimensions of the merest lakelet. 

It is the fact of the limitations that belong to the 
very constitution of the human mind that makes it 
necessary for men to be specialists in the various 
departments of thought and investigation. No man 
can excel in law, medicine and mathematics at the same 
time. Occasionally, but only occasionally, a great 
mind comes upon the scene that can take a cluster of 
similar branches of study, and become expert in all 
of them. Michael Angelo is said to have been equally 
distinguished as painter, sculptor and architect; 
Shakespeare excelled alike in comedy, farce and 
tragedy ; Agassiz was a master in four different depart- 
ments of science, and easily stood at the head of his 
class in each of them. But when you combine all 
that all these men knew, how insignificant is the sum 
total as compared with all truth. If all the great 
minds that have ever figured in human history could 
be thro\^^l together as one mind, in a happy combina- 
tion of all faculties, the result would be a mind 
marked by the limitations of the finite; and its unified 
knowledge would be infinitesimal in comparison with 
universal truth. 

Seeing that man can not come to a knowledge of 
the true and living God by the unaided powers of his 
reason, it is proper to pay some attention to intui- 
tional knowledge. That there is such a thing as dis- 
covering and receiving truth by intuition, apart from 
the processes of reasoning, is an uncontroverted prop- 
osition. Mathematical axioms present truth that is 

24 



368 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

received in this way. We see such truth at once, 
and do not attain a knowledge of it by formulating 
premises and drawing conclusions. There is a short 
cut to such truth, by which the mind reaches it with- 
out the use of intermediate knowledge or discovering 
processes. That two and two make four is a truth 
which the mind receives without question. That the 
whole is greater than any of its parts can not be 
made plainer than the mere statement of the fact. 
This intuitional knowledge is the basis of all reason- 
ing, and the mind could not reason at all if there 
were not starting-points that do not have to be rea- 
soned out. 

The power to reach truth in this way differs widely 
in different individuals. That one and one make two 
is a truth that every sane mind accepts at once. But 
when a great many different numbers are involved, 
most minds have to discover the sum by calculation. 
Yet there are some that can give it at once, and are 
not able to tell how they reach the result. It comes 
by intuition. Newton and Pascal could see truth at 
once, while other strong minds would have to plod, 
and reach the conclusion step by step up the ladder 
of the ordinary processes of reasoning. But this 
faculty is hampered in the most richly endowed, by 
limitations. There is but one mind that knows all 
truth by intuition, and of course that is the mind of 
the infinite One. Even Newton and Pascal and Ham- 
ilton had to pursue the beaten path of reason to reach 
some truth. But the sum of all human knowledge, 
whether it comes by reason or intuition, is subject to 
limitations. 

Is there such a thing as satisfactory intuitional 
knowledge of religious truth? This interrogatory lies 



HUMAN MIND IN RELIGION 369 

at the very basis of the question now under consid- 
eration. Upon the answer it may receive will depend 
the validity of much of our reasoning upon the 
evidences of Christianity. Any religion that can 
satisfy the needs and cravings of the human soul 
must have as its very heart a concept of God as 
infinite in wisdom, omnipotent in power, and bound- 
less in love and mercy. Can intuition originate such 
a concept? So far as intuition speaks at all, it must 
speak the same language to all men everywhere at all 
times. In the circle of reason there are numerous 
considerations that operate to lead different minds to 
different conclusions on the same subject. Reason in 
the hands of some of the five senses may be led to 
false conclusions. Of this, color blindness is a striking 
and interesting example. Sight tells one man that a 
given object is of one color, while it reports to another 
that the same object is of a different color. If 
intuition reports at all, it makes the same report to 
every man. This faculty in man is very closely akin 
to instinct in animals, and this power is uniform in 
its operations and manifestations. The instinct of the 
American horse is exactly the same as the instinct 
of the Arabian horse, and it speaks one and the same 
language the world over. There is no confusion of 
tongues in this regard. Precisely so in regard to 
intuition. If it tells an Englishman that two and 
two make four, it makes the same report to an Egyp- 
tian. If it informs a Russian that the whole is equal 
to the sum of all its parts, it imparts the same infor- 
mation to a South American. If it assures a Turk 
that two different objects can not occupy the same 
space at the same time, it gives the Australian Bush- 
man the same assurance. 



370 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

Now, has intuition originated a uniform religion 
the world over? Has it spoken the same language 
everywhere concerning God? Has it given all men 
the same conception of right and wrong? Has it 
everywhere given the same idea of virtue and honor? 
Has it sung the same song around the world as 
regards a future life? Has it taught the same lesson 
at all times on the subjects of truth and righteous- 
ness? Has it impressed all men with the correct idea 
of the unity, nature and character of God? To ask 
these questions is to answer them to the satisfaction 
of every man of a fair degree of intelligence. No 
human faculty has spoken a uniform, universal lan- 
guage in this sphere of thought and experience, and 
the resulting conclusion is that intuition has not 
spoken at all in this realm. On this plane it is 
powerless and speechless and sightless. This accounts 
for the confusion and conflict to be found all along 
the line of transcendentalism, from Plato to Comte 
and Hegel. Perhaps I could not render you a better 
service than to give you the following quotation from 
**The Evidence of Christianity in the Nineteenth Cen- 
tury, '' by Albert Barnes: '* There is no agreement 
among those who rely upon this as to what is the 
true system. From Plato downward to Kant and 
Comte, men have speculated on this point, and in 
regard to what is claimed under this system — ^the 
Urue,' the * absolute,' the 'infinite' — as to what God 
is, what man is, or what is the moral system of the 
universe, it is impossible to refer to any system on 
which men have speculated at all, in respect to which 
there is a greater variety of opinion, or in which more 
that is incomprehensible has been proposed to the 
faith of mankind. It would be very easy for any one 



HUMAN MIND IN RELIGION 371 

to make extracts from Hegel and Kant so far above 
common apprehension, so mystical, so difficult of inter- 
pretation, so destitute of apparent meaning, as to turn 
the whole matter into ridicule if it should be held 
seriously that this was to be the faith of mankind at 
large. Besides, who is to decide which is the true 
system? Or who, holding one system on this theory, 
has a right to call in question the truth of the system 
preferred by another?" 

Thus it becomes manifest that there are limitations 
upon human intuition that incapacitate man for the 
task of devising a true system of religion. This 
explains the historical fact that all systems of religion 
that have been originated by man have either crum- 
bled, or are crumbling. Many have passed away, and 
the rest are doomed to extinction. Thrones erected 
by men have toppled into destruction; empires that 
were established by human genius and power have 
gone down in ruins; cities constructed by the art of 
man have succumbed to the hand of the destroyer. 
Human religions, like all things else human, must go 
the way of all the earth, for the reason that they are 
not true, for truth is imperishable and eternal. 
Excepting Hinduism and Buddhism, all the religions 
devised by man before the Christian era have passed 
away to return no more. The temples of Baalbec fell 
to rise not. Mexican altars will never rise from the 
ruins into which they have fallen. The Parthenon will 
never again throw open its doors to invite worshipers 
to its shrines. The Pantheon will never more be a 
receptacle for the gods of all nations. The splendid 
and elegant mythology of Greece is a thing of the 
past. The following sentences from Albert Barnes are 
eminently worth reciting here: "Every altar that stood 



372 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

in the time of Paul has long since been overthrown, 
not to be rebuilt; the splendid temples on which his 
eye rested when he stood on Mars' Hill have disap- 
peared. Even the Parthenon is in ruins, and there has 
not been vitality enough to perpetuate it in its beauty 
as a work of art; as a structure for the worship of 
Minerva it is to be entered no more forever. There 
was nothing in the ancient religion of Greece, or in 
her philosophy as bearing on religion, that the world 
could lay hold of as worth perpetuating, and the 
religion of Greece, the highest result of human wisdom 
— of the speculation of the profoundest and acutest 
intellects of the world — has departed; the ruin of the 
ancient religion is universal. Not more entire is the 
ruin of kingdoms, dynasties, empires — of thrones and 
palaces — than is the ruin of temples and altars. Ali 
lie in promiscuous ruin: Karnak, Baalbec, Birs Nimrod 
in Babylon; the splendid temples in Athens and in 
Corinth; the temples of Jupiter and Janus and Apollo 
— all in Rome save a little temple and the Parthenon 
— all are in ruin. No part of the world is now in the 
slightest degree influenced by the Egyptian, the Per- 
sian, the Assyrian, the Roman, the Greek religions, 
by the religion of the Druids, or of any of the old 
Teutonic or Scythian races." 

It will scarcely be contended that the efforts of 
the future will surpass those of the past, or that the 
human mind will in the future produce results along 
this line that will be more satisfactory or enduring 
than those that have been produced by former genera- 
tions of men. The fruits borne by the intellects of 
Aristotle, Plato, and all the great philosophers of 
ancient Greece and Rome; of Hume, Gibbon, Shaftes- 
bury, Bolingbroke, Lord Herbert and Hobbes; of 



HUMAN MIND IN RELIGION 373 

Kant, Hegel, Strauss, Renan and Comte, with the rest 
of the philosophers of England, France and Germany 
— ^will not be excelled in richness and beauty by the 
products of minds yet to be brought into existence. 
The human mind is not capable of creating a satisfy- 
ing, lasting, purifying, soul-saving, heart-cleansing, 
charity-producing, God-honoring religion. 

What, then, is the province of the human mind, 
if it has any, as regards religious truth? The ques- 
tion assumes that there is such a thing as religious 
truth, and the assumption rests upon a very strong 
presumption. All experience, observation and history 
combine to show that man is a religious being— a 
being whose consciousness prompts him to worship, 
and whose conscience tells him that he ought to wor- 
ship. Here are some of the essential and elementary 
factors of human nature — principles without which 
human nature would not be what it is. The physical 
and mental constitutions of man require certain things 
that are essential to his existence and welfare as a 
physical and intellectual being, and we find that his 
environment abundantly furnishes him with those 
things. As a physical being he needs food, drink, 
raiment, warmth, etc., and his physical environment 
places these things within his reach. As an intel- 
lectual being he needs food for thought and reflection, 
and his intellectual environment furnishes him with 
this. His physical nature requires physical truth, and 
that is at hand. His mental nature requires intel- 
lectual truth, and intellectual truth lies before him, 
So far there are no misfits between man's needs and 
his surroundings. 

As a religious — a spiritual — ^being, man is charac- 
terized by certain religious or spiritual needs, and this 



374 SEKMONS AND ADDRESSES 

suggests the existence of a religions or spiritual envi- 
ronment, and gives rise to the idea of adaptation of 
environment to needs in this sphere of human exis- 
tence. As a religious being man's primary need is 
that of religious truth; and here comes out in bold 
relief the presumption that his religious environment 
contains religious truth that is adapted to him as a 
religious being. This presumption is so strong that I 
shall not attempt to prove it by direct argumentation, as 
it manifests strength enough to enable it to stand 
alone. And now we are in direct and immediate 
contact with the problem of the relation of the human 
mind to the truth which the religious environment 
embraces. 

We have already seen that the mind does not 
sustain to this truth the relation of creator or orig- 
inator. Hear me while I express a doubt as to man's 
ability to create truth of any kind. He did not create 
the physical truth that the sun shines, nor that the 
earth revolves on its axis, nor that food taken into 
the system will strengthen and build it up. He did 
not create the intellectual truth that three and three 
make six, nor that the whole is equal to the sum of 
all its parts, nor that the shortest distance between 
two points is a straight line. He can not create a 
star, but he can see, appreciate and enjoy one. He 
can not create a law of gravitation, nor any other 
law that influences matter or mind; but he can per- 
ceive, appreciate, enjoy, and to some extent under- 
stand, such laws. This suggests the true relation of 
the mind of man to religious truth. While he can not 
create such truth, yet, when it is presented to his 
mind, he can perceive, appreciate, enjoy, and to some 
extent understand, it. Thus reason and revelation 



HTOIAN MIND IN RELIGION 375 

come together and blend themselves in an affectionate 
and harmonious embrace. 

Religious truth, as well as all other truth, must 
be weighed to the human understanding in the scales 
of reason; and when a proposition comes to tho 
human mind in the name of religious truth, reason 
must pass judgment upon it. It is only thus that 
the mind can discriminate between truth and error 
in this department of thought and experience. Here 
lies the only protection that man has against impos- 
ture and imposition in the domain of religion. I 
would not be understood as saying that the decision 
of reason is final, nor that the rejection of a proposi- 
tion by reason proves the proposition to be false; 
nor am I saying that the reception of a proposition 
by reason shows the proposition to be true. When the 
proposition that a sack of flour weighs twenty pounds 
is rejected by a given pair of scales, that does not 
absolutely settle the matter, for the scales may be 
out of order. Just so as regards the reason of an 
individual. What the decision of a given mind may 
be will probably be influenced by a number of factors 
lying outside of pure reason. Prejudice, education, 
habits of thought, likes and dislikes, etc., are consid- 
erations that make their impress upon the coinage of 
reason. And yet every man must bring his reason 
into play in considering matters pertaining to religious 
truth, and no man can intelligently receive as truth 
that which does not commend itself to his reason. 
Any religion, whether true or false, must take this 
into the account in asking approval and acceptance 
at the hands of human intelligence. 

I do not mean to affirm that a man can not receive 
as true a thing that he does not fully comprehend. 



376 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

A fanner knows but little of the principles of life and 
growth in vegetation. But few people know much 
about the laws of life by which food is digested, 
converted into blood, and assimilated to the various 
parts of the body as flesh, bones, nerves, brains, etc. 
The wisest philosopher is quite limited in his knowl- 
edge of the law of gravitation, electrical phenomena, 
the movements of comets, and the like. But intel- 
ligent people receive these imperfectly understood 
things as true, and act upon them as true in the 
ordinary affairs of life. A well-ordered and properly 
balanced mind will accept things as true when it is 
more reasonable to thus accept them as true than to 
reject them as false; and not very many minds can 
reach a higher plane than this. It is the plane upon 
which the most interesting and important problems 
of ordinary and practical life are solved. 

But an apparent difficulty comes into view here, 
which it is proper to recognize and try to remove. 
For various reasons but few individuals can enter 
upon a thorough personal examination of the evidences 
of Christianity, so as to assure their reason, from the 
standpoint of personal investigation, that it is true. 
What shall be done by those who can not make this 
examination for themselves? This embarrassment is 
not peculiar to the realm of religious truth. On the 
contrary, it is encountered, as has already been inti- 
mated, in every department of thought and life. Not 
many men are able to work their own way to tha 
conclusion that the earth and sun are about ninety- 
three million of miles apart. Only a few know from 
personal examination that the sun is the center of the 
system, instead of the earth. Few and far between 
are the minds that can forecast an eclipse by personal 



HUMAN MIND IN RELIGION 377 

calculation, and tell the time of its beginning to a 
second. It does not fall to the lot of many to be 
able to trace the course of a comet and fix the time 
of its reappearance in our part of the heavens. Only- 
one here and there can tell by diagnosis that a patient 
has typhoid fever, and what the proper remedies are. 
And yet in all these matters there is a legitimate 
place for the exercise of reason on the part of the 
great masses of the human family. The ordinary 
mind — the mind that has neither time nor facilities 
for personal examination — says that it is reasonable 
to accept conclusions that have been reached by minds 
having all the opportunities and facilities needful for 
a thorough and adequate investigation, and it is 
unreasonable to reject them. Thus the difficulty is 
met and removed as regards scientific truth. 

The same principle will relieve the situation of 
embarrassment with respect to the circle of religious 
thought. Here there are specialists as well as in the 
various departments of scientific investigation, and 
when they reach a conclusion with a fair degree of 
unanimity, it is more reasonable to accept that con- 
clusion than it is to reject it; and the one who does 
so acts from the standpoint of reason and is guided 
by common sense. It is true that he may not occupy 
the highest plane of reason; but all men can no more 
occupy the same plane of reason here than in other 
fields of mental activity. A vast majority of those 
who have made a specialty of the study of Christian 
evidences have reached the conclusion that Christianity 
is true and divine, and it is more reasonable for the 
common mind to accept that conclusion than to reject 
it. England ^s greatest premier said that he had been 
intimately associated in public life with sixty-five of 



378 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

the world's greatest men, and that sixty of them 
believed in Christianity. It is much more reasonable 
to follow the sixty than the five. Perhaps this is 
the strongest argument that a preacher can use before 
a promiscuous audience. The common people know 
that they act on this principle in nearly all other 
matters, and this consideration will lead them to see 
that it is reasonable to act upon it in regard to 
religion. But there is a danger at this point that 
should be guarded against as far as possible; namely, 
the danger of encouraging people to fall into a condi- 
tion of mental indolence in regard to the matter. 
Every mind should exert itself to the fullest extent 
of its ability to think and investigate along this line. 
It may well be doubted whether there can be such a 
thing as a sound, healthy, vigorous, soul-sustaining 
faith without some personal thought and investigation 
as to its foundation. I verily believe that we have 
now reached solid, firm, permanent ground with 
respect to the right use of reason in relation to religion. 
But perhaps this argument would not be complete 
if it should not take some notice of the fact that in 
the case of some investigators their reason has led 
them to reject Christianity as false. Ought not the 
laws of reason to produce uniform results? and if 
reason tells one man that Christianity is true, ought 
it not to make the same report to every man? The 
question is legitimate and deserves attention. Pure 
reason, unaffected by disturbing elements and acting 
normally through its inherent laws, ought, it seems 
to me, to produce uniform results. In view, therefore, 
of different and conflicting results, it behooves us to 
inquire whether foreign and disturbing factors have 
intruded themselves into the kingdom of reason, thus 



HUMAN MIND IN RELIGION 379 

obstructing its laws in their operations, and causing 
them to produce abnormal results. When a ball is 
fired from a great gun perpendicularly into the air, 
the law of gravitation is temporarily overcome, and 
the result is that, instead of falling, the ball rises. 
But the phenomenon is easily explained when the pro- 
pelling force of the explosive in the gun is taken 
into consideration. The ascension of the ball is at 
least an apparent exception to the rule that objects 
in the air without adequate support descend. The 
reversionary movement of the satellites of Uranus is 
an exception to the rule that the planets and their 
satellites revolve from west to east. The exception has 
not yet been satisfactorily explained, but the probable 
explanation is that those satellites are operated upon 
and influenced by forces that have not yet been 
discovered, and whose discovery would make the mat- 
ter plain. 

The rule is that those who investigate the claims 
of Christianity for themselves reach the conclusion 
that those claims are well founded. Those who have 
come to a contrary conclusion furnish exceptions to 
the rule, and we know that exceptions do not invali- 
date a rule, and that it is safer to follow a rule than 
the exceptions. Can these exceptions be accounted 
for on reasonable grounds such as will confirm the 
rule rather than break it down? I believe that they 
can, and, by way of approaching the subject, I cite 
the following language from Prof. Archibald Alex- 
ander: ''There is no just cause for apprehending that 
we shall be misled by the proper exercise of reason 
on any subject which may be proposed for our con- 
sideration. The only danger is of making an improper 
use of this faculty, which is one of the most common 



380 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

faults to which our nature is liable. Most men pro- 
fess that they are guided by reason in forming their 
opinions; but if this were really the case, the world 
would not be overrun with error; there would not be 
so many absurd and dangerous opinions propagated 
and pertinaciously defended. In one sense, indeed, 
they may be said to follow reason, for they are guided 
by a blinded, prejudiced and perverted reason." 
These sentences are full of valuable suggestions look- 
ing in the direction of the solution of the problem 
before us. If an individual declares that an object is 
green, when the overwhelming majority of intelligent 
people say that it is white, it is manifest that there is 
something wrong with that individual's vision. He 
followed his sense of sight, but that was in an 
abnormal condition, and hence it led him to a false 
conclusion. So may it be in regard to reason. It 
will lead to wrong conclusions if it is perverted and 
influenced by disturbing and hindering elements. 

Skeptics of the Hume-Renan school exhibit perver- 
sion of reason when they say that the claims of 
miracles are to be rejected without investigation. 
Such a decision not only hampers and disables reason, 
it almost dethrones it. If there is an intelligent God, 
unperverted reason says that He can perform mira- 
cles; and when it is alleged by respectable and 
intelligent witnesses that God did actually perform 
miracles, it is unreasonable to say that the testimony 
is to be rejected without investigation, and there is 
something wrong with the reason that so declares, 
however brilliant it may be in other respects. Such 
a decision is an exception to the rule, and is explain- 
able on rational grounds. I quote again from Pro- 
fessor Alexander: ''One large class of men are 



HUMAN MIND IN RELIGION 381 

accustomed, from a slight and superficial view of the 
important subject of religion, to draw a hasty con- 
clusion, which must prove in the highest degree 
detrimental to their happiness. They have observed 
that, in the modern as well as the ancient world, 
there is much superstition, much imposture, much 
diversity and variety of opinion, many false pretenses 
to divine inspiration, and many false reports of 
miracles and prophetic oracles. Without giving them- 
selves the trouble of searching diligently for the truth 
amidst the various claims, they draw a general con- 
clusion that all religions are alike; that the whole 
affair is a cheat, the invention of cunning men who 
imposed on the credulity of the unthinking multitude; 
and that the claims to divine revelation do not even 
deserve a serious examination. Does right reason 
dictate such a conclusion as this? If it did, and 
we were to apply it to other concerns, it would make 
a sad overturning in the business of the world. Truth, 
honesty and honor might, on these principles, be 
discarded as unmeaning names; for of all these there 
have been innumerable counterfeits, and concerning 
all of them an endless diversity of opinion." These, 
words are strong and salutary. To bundle Chris- 
tianity up with religions that are admitted to be 
false, and cast it out as rubbish vtdth them without 
examination, is not a dictate of reason in a normal 
condition. It is as if an assayist should act as fol- 
lows: Fifty specimens of ore, taken from as many 
different localities, and all claiming to possess precious 
metal, are brought to him to be tested. He applies the 
test to forty-nine of them and finds them worthless, and 
then refuses to test the fiftieth one and throws it 
away as without value, because the forty-nine have 



382 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

been found to be worthless. The fiftieth one might 
prove upon examination to be of great value. 

There are those who are willing to examine the 
claims of the Christian religion, and they make a 
show of following reason; but they are dominated by 
a desire to find it false. Men of this disposition, 
however strong their intellects, and however profound 
their learning, can not reason coolly and impartially, 
and their conclusions are very apt to be distorted and 
misshapen. It may be that their desire to find 
Christianity false is produced by the fact that their 
lives are controlled by passions which are under the 
ban of the Christian religion. If they find that this 
religion is from God, they will find themselves under 
the disapproval and condemnation of Him, and hence 
they lean towards their desires all the time, and 
their conclusion is tinctured by their passions. Con- 
spicuous examples of this are found in such men as 
Hume, Voltaire, Rousseau, and others, whose lives 
were blackened by the grossest immorality, and their 
reason, as brought to bear on religion, was warped 
and vitiated, and thus these exceptions are explained. 

There are disbelievers who claim to be governed 
by reason, and reaUy think they are thus governed, 
but they abuse their reason by examining but one 
side of the question. They only read and study argu- 
ments that are constructed with the view of over- 
turning the religion of Christ. They do not read the 
Bible, nor do they study arguments that have been 
made in defense of it. All they know about the 
Book is what they have learned from its enemies, and 
this is generally a false knowledge received through 
misrepresentation and misinterpretation. A skeptic 
of more than ordinary intelligence admitted to me 



: 



HUMAN MIND IN RELIGION 383 

that about all he knew about the Bible he had gotten 
from books that had been written against it, such as 
skeptics usually read with relish. They never inquire 
whether the arguments they read have ever been 
answered, nor look into what has been said on the 
other side. It is perfectly manifest that reason will 
go wrong under such circumstances. 

There are still others whose reason is obscured 
and perverted by metaphysical speculation, and who 
do their reasoning in the fog of profound mysticism, 
and hence reach false conclusions. Of these, Professor 
Alexander speaks as follows: ''They are the cold, 
speculative, subtle skeptics who involve themselves in 
a thick mist of metaphysics, attack first principles, 
and confound their readers with paradoxes. The 
number of those who belong to this class is perhaps 
not large, but they are formidable; for while the 
other enemies of the truth scarcely make a show 
of reason, these philosophers are experienced in all 
the intricacies of a refined logic; so that error in 
their hands is made to appear in the guise of truth. 
Should we yield ourselves to the sophistry of these 
men, they will persuade us to doubt, not only the 
truth of revelation, but of our senses and of our very 
existence. If it be inquired how they contrive to 
spread such a coloring of skepticism over every sub- 
ject, the answer is, by artfully assuming false prin- 
ciples as the premises of their reasoning; by reason- 
ing sophistically on correct principles; by dextrous 
use of ambiguous terms; by pushing their inquiries 
beyond the limits of human knowledge, and by calling 
in question the first principles of all knowledge. It 
is not easy to conjecture what their motive is; most 
probably it is vanity. They are ambitious of appear- 

25 



384 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

ing more profound and acute than other men, and 
distinction is not so readily obtained in the common 
course as by flying off in an eccentric orbit. It can 
not be any sincere regard for truth which influences 
them, for, upon their principles, truth and reason are 
equally worthless. They pull down everything, but 
build up nothing. Truth has no greater enemies in 
the world than this Pyrrhonic sect; and it is to 
be lamented that sometimes ingenious young men 
are caught in the wiles of their sophistry, and are 
led so far into the labyrinth of their errors that 
they are never able to extricate themselves, and all 
their fair prospects of virtue and usefulness are 
obscured forever." 

Enough ground has now been traversed to explain 
the irregularities and eccentricities in the movements 
of reason, and account for the fact that some minds 
reach the conclusion that Christianity is not true. 
But for these extraneous influences all investigating 
minds would move directly to the same point, and 
be as uniform in their results as the law of gravita- 
tion. And this is what might be expected if God is 
the author of both human reason and the Christian 
religion. On this hypothesis the adaptation of revela- 
tion to reason may be supposed to be as perfect as 
the adaptation of light to the eye, or air to the lungs. 

I close this lecture with a reference to two con- 
spicuous examples of the triumph of reason over 
prejudice and predilection. Lord Littleton and his 
friend Gilbert West were pronounced skeptics, and 
withal men of brilliant intellects and fine literary 
culture. They entered into an agreement that each 
would write an essay to disprove the Christian 
religion, Littleton taking for his subject the life and 



HUMAN MIND IN RELIGION 385 

epistles of the apostle Paul, and West selecting for 
his topic the resurrection of Christ. They were honest 
enough to give themselves to a careful and candid 
study of their respective topics, and the result was 
that they became convinced of the truth of Chris- 
tianity, and went to building up that which they 
meant to tear down. Their reason, though disturbed 
for awhile by interfering factors, had inherent force 
and vitality enough to get back into its proper orbit, 
and move on to the correct goal. 

Our final, and, as I believe, infallible, conclusion 
is that the province of the Jiuman mind in religion 
is to investigate, perceive, accept and enjoy trutJi. 



THE BIBLE AND SCIENCE 

A LECTURE 

THIS topic suggests two of the greatest, grandest 
and most important subjects for consideration 
that can engage the attention of the human mind, and 
they should be approached with reverence, humility 
and candor. In this lecture we are to study the 
relation between the Bible and science, in an attempt 
to discover whether that relation is one of harmony 
or conflict. If it should appear that there is harmony 
between the two, we may conclude that both are true 
and reliable; but, if we should discover that they 
conflict with each other, we shall be obliged to con- 
clude that one or the other is wrong and unreliable. 
It is very important that we get before us the exact 
issue involved in the investigation, for, if we do not, 
we are liable to go far afield, and reach no logical 
conclusion. We are not to compare interpretations 
that men have put upon the Bible with mere scien- 
tific theories, for here contradiction can easily be 
found. We are to compare Bible statements with 
scientific facts — facts that have been established beyond 
any peradventure, and are generally accepted in the 
scientific world. Many scientific theories have been 
advanced, and afterwards abandoned, to give place 
to others doomed to be overtaken by the same fate. 
Here is room for all kinds of speculation and guess- 
work, presenting an arena for interesting, but not 
edifying, scientific gymnastics. 

386 



; \ 



THE BIBLE AND SCIENCE 387 

Sir J. W. Dawson, that pastmaster in geological 
science, in his ''The Story of the Earth and Man/* 
makes some judicious observations that are well worthy 
of a place in this connection. Speaking of mere 
theorists in science, this distinguished author says: 
''Geology as a science is at present in a peculiar 
and somewhat exceptional state. Under the influence 
of a few men of commanding genius belonging to the 
generation now passing away, it has made so gigantic 
conquests that its armies have broken up into bands 
of specialists, little better than scientific banditti, 
liable to be beaten in detail, and prone to commit 
outrages on common sense and good taste, which bring 
their otherwise good cause into disrepute. ... In the 
more advanced walks of scientific research, they are 
to some extent neutralized by that free discussion 
which true science always fosters; though even here 
they sometimes vexatiously arrest the progress of 
truth, or open floodgates of error which it may require 
much labor to close. But in public lectures and 
popular publications they run riot, and are stimulated 
by the mistaken opposition of narrow-minded good 
men, by the love of the new and sensational, and by 
the rivalry of men struggling for place and position. 
To launch a clever and startling fallacy which will 
float for a week and stir up a hard fight, seems 
almost as great a triumph as the discovery of an 
important fact or law; and the honest student is dis- 
tracted with the multitude of doctrines, and hustled 
aside by the crowd of ambitious groundlings." These 
timely words should admonish readers and students 
that not every theory in science that may be advanced 
is to be accepted as true, and not to reject the Bible 
because some scientific theory may seem to contradict 



388 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

the Bible. ''Prove all things, and hold fast to that 
which is good.'* 

A few years ago (not so much now) a great deal 
was said about an alleged conflict between the Bible 
and science, and this clamor was so persistent and 
emphatic that it carried many people off their feet, 
and led them to seriously doubt or positively reject 
the Bible as an inspired and reliable Book. Even 
some level-headed scientists were borne away on this 
wave of skepticism, and brushed the Bible aside as 
unworthy of their attention. Professor Romanes, a 
distinguished English biologist, started out in his 
scientific work upon the assumption, to use his own 
language, that ''Christianity is played out," and set 
sail upon the foggy sea of agnosticism. It is gratify- 
ing to know that sober second thought arrested him 
and caused him to investigate the matter carefully 
from a scientific standpoint, and his investigation 
cured him of his skepticism, and convinced him that 
Christianity is a revealed and true religion. I would 
advise people who are interested in this line of study 
to procure and read his "Thoughts on Religion," 
edited after his death by Canon Gore. The Bible , 

does not care to enter into controversy with mere j 

theorists in science, nor submit its claims to the 
arbitrament of scientific theories. But it courts com- 
parison with well-grounded scientific facts, and is 
willing to stand the test of the most scrutinizing 
examination from this viewpoint. 

I have said that the Bible is not a scientific text- 
book, and that is true; but now and then it makes a 
strike in a scientific direction, and whenever it does 
that, its range is point-blank. It will be interesting 
and instructive to notice a few instances of this fact. 

ji 



THE BIBLE AND SCIENCE 389 

In Isa. 40:22 the following language is applied to 
Jehovah: ''It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the 
earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grass- 
hoppers.'' This may refer either to the globular form 
of the earth, or to the circular form of its orbit, or 
possibly to both; but whether to the one or the other, 
or to both, it was spoken a long time before science 
found out that the earth has any circle of any kind. 
It was supposed to be flat and stationary. In Job 
26 : 7 we read as follows : ' ' He stretcheth out the 
north over empty space, and hangeth the earth on 
nothing." It was a puzzle to the ancients as to the 
support of the earth in space, and some amusing and 
ridiculous theories were advanced to account for this 
phenomenon; but it remained for a man of God to 
unravel the matter, and declare that God ''hangeth 
the earth on nothing." "When science discovered the 
truth in the case, it called it gravitation, but I am 
not so sure but that Job's name for it is about as 
good as the name that science applies to it, for what 
is gravitation? It is simply the name of a phenom- 
enon that we know but little about. Men sometimes 
think that they do wonders when they discover a 
phenomenon in nature and name it, even though they 
give no explanation of it. Gravitation is about as 
near nothing as can be imagined — it has neither length, 
breadth nor thickness. Job knew that the earth has 
no material support in the heavens, and hence he said 
that it hangs "on nothing." In the ninetieth Psalm, 
which scholars attribute to Moses, the writer says: 
"Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever 
thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even 
from everlasting to everlasting thou art God." We 
have here a beautiful figurative presentation of the 



390 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

origin of mountains, the figure being based on the 
fact of the birth of a child. The mountains are rep- 
resented as coming forth or being born out of the 
womb of the earth, and later science came along and 
confirmed this view of the matter. It was noticed 
that all great ranges of mountains run about parallel 
with seacoasts. It was also observed that the abrupt 
face of a mountain range lool?s seaward, while 
the gradual slope runs back into the interior. It was 
likewise discovered that the base and height of moun- 
tains are proportionate to the size of the ocean along 
whose coast the range runs. In view of these facts 
the scientific mind concluded that oceans had some- 
thing to do with the formation of mountains, and the 
following theory was wrought out, and is now gener- 
ally accepted as correct: When the earth began to 
emerge from the waters that originally completely 
enveloped it, and the waters began to collect in given 
localities, oceans by and by became too heavy for the 
strength of the crust of the earth along their coasts, 
and consequently the crust broke and bulged up and 
formed ridges which were cut up into peaks by run- 
ning streams. Thus the Rockies were formed on the 
western border of the American continent by the 
Pacific Ocean, and the Appalachians on the eastern 
coast by the Atlantic; and upon these considerations 
may be based the following problem in compound 
proportion: As the Rockies are to the Pacific Ocean, 
so are the Appalachians to the Atlantic. Thus we see 
that while the Bible is not a text-book on science, 
yet it has pioneered the way for modern science, and 
is sufficiently scientific to indicate that it is from God. 
In the days when the allegation was most stoutly 
and confidently made that science and the Bible do 



THE BIBLE AND SCIENCE 391 

not agree in important particulars, skeptical scientists 
made their attack npon the Scriptures largely from 
the standpoint of geological science. They said that 
according to the Bible the earth was created only 
about six thousand years ago, while, according to well- 
established facts in science, it has been in existence 
for millions of years, or even decades. This is to 
contrast what men have said about the Bible with 
scientific facts, and the Bible is not to be held respon- 
sible for what men have said about it. Scores of 
systems of chronology have been wrought out by men, 
and there is a margin of twenty thousand years 
between the extremes. And these different and con- 
flicting systems of chronology all claim to be based 
on Bible data, and this suggests that the Bible makes 
out no system of chronology for itself. It dates some 
of the events that it records, but it does not attempt 
to give the dates of all the transactions that it records, 
and hence it does not furnish data for a chronological 
system. It is nowhere said in the Bible that the 
earth was created six thousand years ago, or any 
other definite number of years ago. Here is what the 
Bible says for itself on the subject of creation: '*In 
the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." 
That statement is absolutely without date, and no 
odds how far back into the dim and distant past 
science may carry the drama of creation, the Bible 
makes no resistance — it is still the ''beginning.'^ It 
will aid us in our investigation to parallel this first 
statement in Genesis with the first verse in the Gospel 
of John, which reads thus: '*In the beginning was the 
Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word 
was God." There is not the semblance of a sugges- 
tion here as to date. It was simply '*in the begin- 



392 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

ning.'* Just so as to the passage in Genesis. God 
created the heaven and the earth *'in the beginning," 
and there is no conflict between this statement and 
any fact of science. 

''And the earth was without form and void.'* I 
prefer the rendering of the Common Version here, 
because it is truer to the Hebrew, and also to the 
facts of science. Sir J. W. Dawson, who was a fine 
Hebrew scholar as well as a great geologist, studied 
the first chapter of Genesis carefully, and gave an 
excellent translation of it from the standpoint of 
scholarship and science. His rendering of the state- 
ment now before us is as follows, "And the earth 
was formless and empty," and this is practically the 
same as the rendering of the Common Version. I 
desire to emphasize the declaration that when the 
earth was created it was without form, or formless. 
This statement is well calculated to arrest the atten- 
tion of a careful student, and put his wits to work 
to solve the problem of the formlessness of the earth 
when it was created. It is impossible for the human 
mind to conceive of any body of matter which 
exists independently of all other bodies of matter, as 
being without form. Oceans have form, lakes have 
form, continents have form, trees have form, stars 
have form — everything that has independent existence 
necessarily has form. And yet there is the Bible 
statement that the "earth was without form." Is 
that in confiict with the facts just enumerated? Let 
us see. 

Science teaches that originally all the matter from 
which our universe, the solar system, was made, was 
in a gaseous condition on account of an intense degree 
of heat. This theory is known as the nebular hypoth- 



THE BIBLE AND SCIENCE 393 

esis, and it is generally accepted among scientists as 
the working basis for astronomical science. The con- 
stituent matter of the earth was in that conglomerate 
mass, but, having no independent existence, it had 
neither form nor function as a planet — ^it was "with- 
out form and void." The statement is strictly scien- 
tific, and shows that the writer was far in advance 
of his age in scientific knowledge. This mass of 
nebulous matter in some way was set to revolving 
on its axis, and as a result of this motion it bulged 
out around its equator and flattened at its poles. In 
process of time, and under the process of cooling, the 
particles of matter on the outer edge of the bulge 
became fixed, and no longer yielded to either cen- 
tripetal or centrifugal force — they neither descended 
toward the center of the mass under the influence 
of centripetal force, nor went off at a tangent in 
obedience to centrifugal force, but remained station- 
ary. But the mass of matter was cooling, and con- 
sequently contracting, and these processes would by 
and by bring about a separation between the station- 
ary particles and the general mass, and leave a ring 
around the contracting body. This ring continues 
to revolve as a ring, till it finally breaks and runs 
together and forms a globe, and in running together 
it receives the rotary motion and revolves upon its 
axis, and the track that it occupied as a ring becomes 
its orbit in which it revolves around the mass from 
which it was detached. 

This was the beginning of the manufacture of the 
planets of the solar system, and the first one to be 
thrown off, according to the present state of astro- 
nomical knowledge, was Neptune, which threw off a 
satellite or two. After that came Uranus, which 



394 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

was followed by Saturn, and next came great Jupiter, 
and then Mars in war paint — all in regular order. 
After Mars came the earth, and when it was thus 
detached and given separate existence it assumed 
both form and function. Perhaps I can make my 
meaning a little clearer by means of an illustration. 
The desk upon which I am writing was once a part 
of a tree, and while it remained so it had neither 
form nor function as a desk, although its material 
existed, and the tree contained the desk. By and 
by the tree was felled, taken to the mill and sawed 
into lumber. A part of the lumber went into the 
hands of a mechanic who shaped it into a desk and 
thus gave it form and function as a desk. So it was 
with the earth. When it was created as a part of 
the general mass of matter it was ''without form and 
void,'* but when it was separated and given separate 
existence it was otherwise. Thus we discover a beau- 
tiful harmony between the statement of the Bible and 
the facts of science in regard to the creation of the 
earth 

*'And darkness was upon the face of the deep." 
This is a most significant asseveration, and deserves 
particular attention. Its meaning turns upon the 
signification that we attach to the term ''deep." This 
word is commonly taken to refer to some body of 
water on the surface of the earth, but I am con- 
strained to believe that this is a mistake. I do not 
mean to say or imply that it does not have that 
signification in the Scriptures, for it frequently has. 
But it sometimes has a different meaning, and hence 
that is not necessarily its meaning in the declaration 
now under inspection. In Gen. 7 : 11, 12 we read as 
follows: "In the sixth hundredth year of Noah's life, 



THE BIBLE AND SCIENCE 395 

in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the 
month, on the same day were all the fountains of the 
great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven 
were opened. And the rain was upon the earth forty 
days and forty nights. ' ' In Gen. 8 : 2 we find the 
following language: ''The fountains also of the deep 
and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the 
rain from heaven was restrained." It appears from 
the first of these quotations that the rain resulted 
from the breaking up of the fountains of the great 
deep, and the opening of the windows of heaven, and 
the second passage indicates that the cessation of the 
rain was consequent upon the stopping of the foun- 
tains of the deep and the windows of heaven. Prov. 
3 : 20 reads thus : ' ' By his knowledge the depths 
[deeps] are broken up, and the skies drop down the 
dew." Here the descent of dew from the skies is 
represented as resulting from the breaking up of the 
deeps. In all these passages ''deep" seems to refer 
to the great deep of space by which the earth is sur- 
rounded, and when it is said that "darkness was 
upon the face of the deep" the idea appears to be 
that darkness pervaded space, and there was no light 
anywhere. That condition would necessarily char- 
acterize space occupied by matter in a gaseous condi- 
tion. Take a mass of iron and make it red hot, and 
it will illuminate a portion of surrounding space. 
Raise it to white heat, and its illuminating power is 
increased. Melt it, and it still gives light. Vaporize 
it, and it is still somewhat luminous. But when it 
is thrown into the gaseous condition it has no illumi- 
nating power, and darkness fills the surrounding space 
— darkness is "upon the face of the deep." Here, 
again, the Bible and science are in perfect agreement. 



396 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

**And God said, Let there be light: and there 
was light.'' This is said to have occurred on the 
first of the creative days, and here skeptical scientists 
join issue with the Bible, and say that there is con- 
tradiction between the statement that light began on 
the first day, and the declaration that the ''great 
light" (the sun) to rule the day was made on the 
fourth day. All natural light, it was said, is 
from the sun, and how could there be light four 
days before there was any sun to make it? This 
was thought to be a poser for the friends of the 
Bible, and the changes were rung upon it with the 
greatest confidence and gusto. But let us look at the 
matter calmly and in the light of scientific facts. 
Returning to the nebular hypothesis, and noting what 
would naturally occur in the process of cooling and 
condensation, we find that this mass of nebulous 
matter, upon emerging from the gaseous condition 
into the vaporous state, becomes incandescent or self- 
luminous; and this would necessarily occur before 
the system was completed and the sun placed in the 
heavens as the light-bearer, and hence it appears that 
the alleged contradiction does not exist, and the Bible 
is found to be in harmony with science again. The 
Bible says that there was light before there was a 
sun, and by and by science comes along and confirms 
the statement. And this throws light upon language 
used by Paul in 2 Cor. 4 : 6, where he makes this decla- 
ration: ''Seeing it is God, that said. Light shall shine 
out of darkness." How beautifully that harmonizes 
with the scientific fact just adverted to. When God 
said, **Let there be light," His behest was obeyed, 
and light shone out of the darkness, and God called 
the light day. 



THE BIBLE AND SCIENCE 397 

It has been said that, according to the Bible 
account of creation, the whole process was begun and 
completed in six ordinary days, whereas science shows 
that it took ages upon ages for the earth to reach its 
present condition, and therefore there is irreconcilable 
conflict between the two. This conclusion is based 
upon the unwarrantable assumption that the days of 
creation were solar days of the length of twenty-four 
hours each. It is remarkable how large a place 
assumptions occupy in the reasoning of skeptical 
scientists. There is no proof that ''day" in the 
Bible account of creation means a period of twenty- 
four hours, or any other definite number of hours, 
and inferences that appear to flow from facts con- 
tained in the Mosaic story militate against that idea. 
In studying any subject, all the known facts must 
be taken into consideration before a just conclusion 
can properly be formulated, and the omission of a 
single fact may vitiate the whole process of reasoning. 
The fact that, according to the Mosaic account of 
creation, the sun did not appear in the heavens as the 
light-bearer till the fourth day, is an important factor 
in this investigation. The first day was begun and 
finished, the second day was begun and finished, the 
third day was begun and finished, and the fourth day 
was begun, all before the sun was appointed to rule 
day and night, and therefore those days were not 
solar days, or days resulting from the earth's relation 
to the sun. If this reasoning is not sound, I am 
utterly unable to discover its defects. If there was 
no sun to cause those days, of course they were not 
sun-made days, or days of twenty-four hours each. 

There is another consideration that greatly 
strengthens this contention. On a certain occasion 



398 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

the Saviour healed a cripple on the sabbath day, and 
his enemies made it the occasion of accusing Him of 
breaking the sabbath. In vindicating Himself, the 
Master said: "My Father worketh even until now, 
and I work." What bearing has this remarkable 
statement upon the question at issue between the 
Lord and His accusers? In what way does it justify 
Jesus in doing cures on the sabbath? Now listen: It 
was purely a work of benevolence that Jesus had 
done on the Jewish sabbath, and that Idnd of work 
Jehovah had been doing on His sabbath from the time 
of its institution till the time when the Master healed 
the cripple at the pool of Bethesda. God's sabbath 
began at the close of the drama of creation, and had 
not ended when Jesus was on earth, and that sabbath 
was the seventh of the days mentioned in connection 
with the work of creation, and on that day Jehovah had 
been doing such works of benevolence as causing day 
and night, seedtime and harvest, summer and winter, 
spring and autumn, the early and latter rain, etc., 
and Jesus simply did on the Jewish sabbath a work 
similar to the works that His Father had been doing 
on His sabbath all the time. This shows that the 
sabbath which the Lord sanctified and set apart as His 
day of rest was still running when Jesus was on earth, 
and, for anything that we know to the contrary, it is 
running yet. Here, then, are five of the seven days 
mentioned in connection with the work of creation 
that were not solar days, and this indicates that Moses 
was dealing with days of that character. His days 
were indefinite periods of time, each one of sufficient 
duration to allow ample time for the work assigned to 
it in the first chapter of Genesis. 



THE BIBLE AND SCIENCE 399 

That this is not an unnatural and forced interpre- 
tation of the word ''day/' as employed in the Bible, 
becomes evident upon an examination of its use in 
the inspired volume. The term is used about four- 
teen hundred times in the sacred Scriptures, and 
with by no means a fixed and uniform signification, 
and is quite frequently employed to indicate an 
indefinite period of time. ''Unto this day" is an 
expression that occurs again and again in the inspired 
writings, and it does not refer to any particular day. 
It means "unto this time." "The day of trouble" 
is another phrase that inspired penmen used to indi- 
cate an indefinite, period of time, as the following 
instances of its use clearly show: "The Lord heareth 
thee in the day of trouble;" "And call upon me in 
the day of trouble ; " " In the day of my trouble I sought 
the Lord;" "This day is a day of trouble;" "For in 
the day of trouble they shall be against thee round 
about;" "For it is a day of trouble, and of treading 
down, and of perplexity, from the Lord, the Lord 
of hosts, in the valley of vision;" "The time is come, 
the day of trouble is near;" "That I might rest in 
the day of trouble." 

It is perfectly manifest that "day" as used in the 
foregoing passages simply means a period of time 
without fixed limits, and in one of the passages 
"time" and "day of trouble" are used interchange- 
ably. And it is equally obvious that in many other 
passages the term is used in the same indefinite way. 
"Witness the foUov/ing: "And thou shalt show thy son 
in that day, saying, It is because of that which the 
Lord did for me when I came forth out of Egypt;" 
"Nevertheless in the day when I visit, I will visit 
their sin upon them;" "Also in the day of your 



400 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

gladness;" "Then my anger shall be kindled against 
them in that day;" **For the day of their 
calamity is at hand;" "And thou hast kept for 
him this great kindness, that thou hast given him a 
son to sit on his throne, as it is this day;" "Shall 
accomplish, as an hireling, his day;" "They that 
come after shall be astonished at his day!" "His 
goods shall flow away in the day of his wrath;" 
"They came upon me in the day of my calamity;" 
"In the day of prosperity be joyful;" "For the 
yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, 
the rod of his oppressor, thou hast broken as in 
the day of Midian;" "And what will ye do in the 
day of visitation, and in the desolation which shall 
come from far?" "But the harvest fleeth away in 
the day of grief and desperate sorrow;" "And in 
that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, 
and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity 
and out of darkness;" "Yea, since the day was, I am 
he;" "In the day of salvation have I helped thee;" 
"For the day is a day of the Lord, the Lord of hosts, 
a day of vengeance;" "Rejoice in that day, and leap 
for joy: for behold, your reward is great in heaven;" 
"I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable in that 
day for Sodom than for that city;" "Your father 
Abraham rejoiced to see my day;" "That ye may 
be unreprovable in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ;" 
"In the day of salvation have I succored thee;" 
"That I may rejoice in the day of Christ;" "As that 
the day of Christ is at hand;" "But let us who are 
of the day be sober;" "In the day of temptation in 
the wilderness." 

Numerous other passages could be adduced to the 
same effect if it were at all necessary. Those already 



THE BIBLE AND SCIENCE 401 

cited show conclusively that the term "day" is used 
in the word of God, many, many times, to indicate 
time without specific limitations, and its meaning in 
any given case is to be determined by the context and 
the subject under consideration. Attention has already 
been drawn to the fact that this word could hardly 
have been used in the Bible account of creation to 
indicate a day of twenty-four hours, or a period of 
time marked off by one revolution of the earth on 
its axis. It is obviously used there to indicate an 
indefinite length of time, and every period may have 
been millions of years in length, so far as anything 
to the contrary is said in the Bible. Hence those days 
make room for all the time that may have been neces- 
sary for the accomplishment of the work involved in 
the drama of creation, and consequently there is no 
conflict between the facts of geological science and 
the teaching of the Scriptures on the subject of crea- 
tion. From this point of view he who believes the 
Bible to be an inspired Book, and reliable in all its 
statements, has no occasion to become alarmed as to 
the foundation of his faith, for that foundation is as 
firm as the everlasting hills, and can stand the test 
of the severest scrutiny. The Book that our God has 
given us to guide our footsteps in the right way has 
passed through many trials and conflicts, and out of 
them all it has come with flying colors, uttering its 
voice of cheer and encouragement, and pointing the 
children of God to the heights of eternal glory. The 
Bible and true science are both from God, and while 
they move upon different planes, yet they occasionally 
touch each other, and whenever they do, it is in per- 
fect harmony and agreement, and there is no discord 
in their pronouncements. 



402 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

When there is no danger of hurtful effects the 
Bible accommodates itself to popular conceptions of 
things, and speaks of them from the standpoint of 
appearances. We do this when we speak of the rising 
and setting of the sun, although we know that that 
is only an appearance, and not a fact, and nobody is 
misled or injured thereby. There was a time when 
the wisest men in the world thought the earth to be 
flat and have corners, and Bible writers accommodated 
their messages to that conception, and no one suffered 
injury therefrom. But if those writers had spoken 
from the viewpoint of modern science, the people 
would have rejected their messages, and suffered incal- 
culable harm in so doing. Nothing was lost by 
addressing the people from their own point of view, 
but much gained, and our God is wise enough to 
adapt His messages to the children of men, to existing 
conditions, and thereby secure desirable results. But, 
as already pointed out, an inspired man of God made 
it known that he was aware that the earth is spherical 
and not flat, and this increases our confidence in the 
infallibility of the Book that we accept as from God, 
and rely upon to lead us in the way of truth and 
righteousness. We can, with the utmost assurance, 
receive it as a *'lamp to our feet, and a light to our 
path," and walk in the light without any fear of 
stumbling. 

A few excerpts from the writings of some of the 
world's greatest men will furnish a fitting close for 
this lecture. Sir Isaac Newton bears this testimony 
to the trustworthiness of the Bible: "I find more sure 
marks of authenticity in the Bible than in any pro- 
fane history whatever.'' This sweeping statement 
from such a source is well calculated to arrest the 



THE BIBLE AND SCIENCE 403 

attention of every thoughtful mind, and add strength 
to our faith in the Bible as a true and reliable Book. 
Sir John Herschel, a distinguished scientist, gives 
utterance to the following ringing declaration concern- 
ing the Book of life: ''AH human discoveries seem 
to be made only for the purpose of confirming more 
and more strongly the truths contained in the sacred 
Scriptures." These words are freighted with wisdom 
and knowledge, and are worthy of a place upon the 
tablet of human memory. That great American 
geologist, Prof. James D. Dana, of Yale University, 
speaks forth the following words of truth and sober- 
ness: ''By proving the record true, science pronounces 
it divine; for who could have correctly narrated the 
secrets of eternity but God Himself? The grand old 
Book still stands, and this old earth, the more its 
leaves are turned over and pondered, the more it will 
sustain and illustrate the sacred Word." 

The foregoing words of wisdom are especially com- 
mended to the consideration of young men who are 
disposed to take up with the current of skeptical 
thought, and turn the Bible down as an effete and 
worthless Book that should be relegated to the junk- 
heap of useless rubbish. The pronunciamento of a 
Herschel is of more weight and value than all the 
skeptical productions that are teeming from the mod- 
ern printing-press, while the sober judgment of a 
Dana ought to outweigh, and really does outweigh, the 
frequent assertions of unbelieving, would-be scientists 
in aU the world. As the distinguished Yale professor 
turned the leaves of "this old earth" in the study 
of geology, his favorite science, he found confirmatory 
evidence of the truthfulness of "the sacred Word" 
on almost every page, and he who accepts the Bible 



404 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

as correct in all of its teaching, and as containing 
revelations of divine truth, can hold up his head ia 
the presence of all the facts of science, and rejoice 
in the hope of eternal life that the gospel of the grace 
of God plants in his soul. No believer in the inspira- 
tion of the Holy Scriptures need feel that he belongs 
to an insignificant company of men who are antago- 
nized by the world's leaders of thought. A short time 
before his death, W. E. Gladstone, England's ''grand 
old man," made use of language like this: ''I have 
been associated in public life with sixty-five of the 
world's greatest men, and sixty of them were devout 
believers in the inspiration of the Bible.'' And this 
expresses about the true proportion between believers 
and unbelievers among the world's greatest thinkers. 
Cling to your Bible, and allow nothing to dim your 
faith in its reliability. It will give you help in life 
and consolation in death. 



THE BIBLE AND EVOLUTION 

A LECTURE 

IT is the firm opinion of your speaker that the 
Bible account of the origin of man is in direct 
conflict with the theory of evolution, and as this 
theory has occupied a large share of the attention 
of educated people for a good many years, being 
regarded by some as fully established in the world 
of science, it seems to be opportune and highly 
expedient to examine, with care, patience and candor^ 
the grounds upon which its claims are founded. The 
reason for the statement that there is conflict between 
the Bible and evolution as to the origin of man is as 
follows: According to evolution, life took its rise in 
some unknown way in the vegetable kingdom, and by 
''continuous and progressive change, according to cer- 
tain laws, and by means of resident forces," lifted 
itself from lower to higher organic forms, and then 
by transmutation the highest vegetable form produced 
the lowest animal t3T)e. From this point the process 
went on in the animal kingdom, each lower form 
transmuting itself into the next higher, till finally 
the highest possible form was reached in man. Accord- 
ing to this theory, the male and female marched along 
through the mazes and labyrinths of this process, 
species piling themselves upon one another, till by and 
by the human species appeared in the simultaneous 
production of a male and a female. According to the 
Bible account of this interesting phenomenon, a man 

405 



406 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

was made — a complete, full-grown man — before there 
was a woman, and afterwards a woman was bnilt up 
of material taken from the man's side; and thus 
the first human pair came into existence without the 
ordinary processes of generation. That there is irrec- 
oncilable and irrepressible conflict between these two 
theories is obvious to common intelligence — they can 
not both be true, and hence war must be waged 
between them till one of them goes down in irretriev- 
able defeat. 

From this point onward our investigation will have 
reference to evolution as a question in science, and it 
may as well be stated here that its standing in the 
world of scientific thought is by no means as good 
as it was a quarter of a century ago. The tide that 
had been flooding the coast of the continent of scien- 
tiflc speculation for so many years, sweeping multi- 
tudes of good thinkers off their feet, began to recede 
about that time, and sober second thought began to 
assert itself; and for several years some of the former 
advocates of the evolutionary hypothesis have been 
saying that its claims are not well founded. Perhaps 
Professor Haeckel may be justly regarded as the 
greatest advocate of the theory of evolution after 
Darwin, and he, in the language of another (Patter- 
son, p. 7), ''complains bitterly of the opposition of 
many of the scientists of Europe, and that many once 
with him have deserted him.'* 

The whole system rests upon two stupendous 
assumptions. It assumes the existence of matter and 
of life to begin with. Materialistic or atheistic evolu- 
tion assumes the eternity of matter, and spontaneous 
generation to account for the beginning of life. A 
little attention to these assumptions is in order here. 



THE BIBLE AND EVOLUTION 407 

Science, as expounded by that great astronomer, the 
lamented Professor Proctor, of England, teaches that 
matter is steadily and surely marching on to a condi- 
tion of fixity, beyond which it will undergo no further 
change or modification. Now, it is axiomatic that, if 
matter is now on such a march, there must have been 
a time when it started, and there will come a time 
when it will stop. But this is wholly inconsistent 
with the proposition that matter is eternal. Matter 
must have started on this march under the operation 
of its own inherent laws, and has not yet had time 
to complete the cycle of its changes, and therefore 
it can not be eternal. Herschel says that the smallest 
particles of matter bear the marks of manufactured 
articles, and from this point of view it does not 
appear to be eternal — there must have been a time 
when it was manufactured. 

But let us generously give evolution some matter 
to begin with. Then comes the no less perplexing 
problem of the origin of life. Science teaches to a 
certainty that there was a time in the history of this 
earth when it carried no life of any kind. The very 
conditions necessary to life were absent. Heat was 
immensely intense. Subject a piece of the brood-comb 
of honey-bees to a comparatively low degree of heat, 
and you can evolve no living thing from it. How 
did life get its start? Speaking of the origin of our 
mental powers, Mr. Darwin says: ''In what manner 
the mental powers were first developed in the lowest 
organisms is as hopeless an inquiry as how life itself 
first originated.*' Professor Winchell, himself an 
enthusiastic evolutionist, says: *' Whence this life origi- 
nated science is unable to declare.'* Here materialistic 
evolution is brought face to face with a difficulty that 



408 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

seriously threatens its very existence, and, in attempt- 
ing to escape, it has to run its barque upon the reefs 
of spontaneous generation. 

This difficulty has risen to perplex the champions 
of the theory of evolution throughout its entire his- 
tory, and Professor Tyndall makes the following effort 
to solve it: ''In the exercise of our scientific imagina- 
tion we may consider that in a whifE of cosmical vapor 
there is the promise and potency of all future life/' 
But the idea of spontaneous generation is now quite 
generally discredited and given up, although Prof. 
Oscar Schmidt, of Strasburg, still contends for the 
possibility of it, and makes this alleged possibility the 
foundation of the evolution for which he contends. 
Regarding this matter Pasteur says: ''There is not 
one circumstance known at the present day which 
justifies the assertion that microscopic organisms come 
into the world without germs or without parents like 
themselves. Those who claim the contrary have been the 
dupes of illusions and ill-conducted experiments which 
they know not how either to perceive or avoid. Spon- 
taneous generation is a chimera." The distinguished 
German chemist. Professor Virchow, says: "Whoever 
recalls to mind the lamentable failures of all the 
attempts made very recently to discover a decided 
support for the generatio equivoca in the lower forms 
of transition from the inorganic to the organic world, 
will find it doubly serious to demand that this theory, 
so utterly discredited, should be in any way accepted 
as the basis of all our views of life.'' And even 
Professor Tyndall, having suppressed his "scientific 
imagination," and come down out of his "whiff of 
cosmical vapor" upon the terra firma of scientific fact, 
says: "I affirm that no shred of trustworthy experi- 



f 



THE BIBLE AND EVOLUTION 409 

mental evidence exists to prove that life, in our day, 
has ever appeared independently of antecedent life." 
Spontaneous generation has gone the way of all other 
fads in science, and with it the materialistic theory 
of evolution. 

But the theistic school of evolutionists must now 
receive attention. These gentlemen, to avoid the rock 
upon which their atheistic brethren ran their craft, 
grant the existence of an intelligent First Cause to 
create matter and begin life in the world. They have 
a little piece of living protoplasm to start with. 
Now, gentlemen, go to work with your evolutionary 
machinery, and evolve from your germ cell all those 
types of life, high and low, beautiful and homely, 
vegetable and animal, intellectual and moral, that 
confront us in the realm of nature. Mr. Darwin 
presses the button as follows: "In this piece of living 
protoplasm was an inherent tendency to vary; that is, 
to produce offspring slightly different from itself." 
As to the cause of variation the great naturalist con- 
fesses ignorance, and hence there is an X factor in 
the very foundation of the superstructure. This off- 
spring and these unaccountable variations invoke the 
laws of a "struggle for existence" and "natural selec- 
tion," or, as Mr. Spencer puts it, "the survival of 
the fittest." Some of the variations are advantageous 
to the individuals possessing them, and in the struggle 
for existence the accidentally favored ones survive, 
and transmit their advantages to their offspring, while 
the accidentally neglected ones perish and leave no 
posterity. Thus there is a constant uplift in the 
progress of life. 

Mr. Darwin illustrates his theory by applying it 
to the giraffe, on the assumption that this animal 



410 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

formerly had low shoulders and a short neck, like 
other hoofed quadrupeds. There came a time when 
food was insufficient to sustain all giraffes, and there 
was a struggle among them for existence. On account 
of variation some individuals had necks a trifle longer 
and shoulders a little higher than the rest, by reason 
of which they could reach higher and procure food 
from limbs that the others could not reach. Thus the 
favored ones survived and transmitted their advan- 
tages to the next generation, when the same thing 
occurred; and thus the process went on till the 
present type of giraffe, with its elevated shoulders and 
elongated neck, appeared. 

But Mr. Darwin sees a difficulty in this illustra- 
tion, which he states as follows: ''Why, in other 
quarters of the world, various animals belonging to the 
same order have not acquired either an elongated neck 
or a proboscis, can not be distinctly answered ; but it is 
as unreasonable to expect a distinct answer to such a 
question as why some event in the history of mankind 
did not occur in one country while it did in another.'' 
That is, you might as well ask why the American 
Revolution did not occur in France as to ask why a 
natural phenomenon did not occur in one country 
while it did in another! Distinct questions requiring 
distinct answers are a terror to evolutionists. Pressed, 
however, by this difficulty, Mr. Darwin assigns some 
vague reasons with which he is manifestly not satisfied, 
and adds: ''Except by assigning such general and 
vague reasons, we can not explain why, in many 
quarters of the world, hoofed quadrupeds have not 
acquired much elongated necks, or other means of 
browsing on higher branches of trees." Here is an 
amusing note of doubt and misgiving. 



I 






ii 



THE BIBLE AND EVOLUTION 411 

If I may be permitted, I would suggest that the 
distinguished savant first shifts the ground of the 
difficulty, and then dodges it. He is not required to 
teU why other quadrupeds in other parts of the world 
did not acquire long necks like the giraffe. It is con- 
ceivable that the alleged circumstances might have 
occurred in one country and not in another, and this 
would be a sufficient explanation. This is not the real 
difficulty. Why did not other hoofed quadrupeds in 
the same country and in the same environment acquire 
elongated necks? Here is the difficulty that Darwin- 
ism is called upon to explain. We need not, nay, we 
must not, leave Ethiopia, where the giraffe is found 
in a state of nature, to seek a solution of this diffi- 
culty. There we find the little zebra living alongside 
the giraffe. Now, if there came circumstances in 
that country that caused a struggle for existence, 
which, through natural selection, put a long neck and 
elevated shoulders on the giraffe, why did it not do 
the same for the zebra that browsed by his side? 
And if short-necked and low-shouldered giraffes per- 
ished on account of a lack of adaptation to the 
environment, how did the zebra happen to survive? 
But there is another difficulty in the way of Darwin- 
ism in this illustration. The idea that the giraffe ever 
underwent such a transformation is purely imaginary. 
There is no evidence among living or fossil giraffes 
that this animal ever had a shorter neck than the 
living specimen of our day. Of course such a trans- 
formation would have been very gradual, and there 
would have been innumerable intermediate links be- 
tween the original form of the beast and the type 
existing at the present time. But not one of these 
intermediate links that the supposition demands has 



412 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

ever been discovered, and the theory is left standing 
on thin air instead of solid facts; and as it is here, 
so it is all along the line of the assumptions upon 
which the claims of evolution rest. Where facts are 
lacking, assumptions are made to fill up the gap, and 
the evolutionist goes on his way rejoicing in his dream. 

But to return to our protoplasm: We want to 
inspect the process of evolution in the formation of 
some highly specialized organ. Let us give attention 
to Professor Tyndall on the formation of the eye. 
His description of this evolution is as follows: 

''The senses are nascent, the basis of all of them 
being that simple tactual sense which the sage Democ- 
rites recognized twenty-three hundred years ago as 
their common progenitor. The action of light in the 
first instance appears to be a mere disturbance of the 
chemical processes in the animal organism, similar to 
that which occurs in the leaves of plants. By degrees 
the action becomes localized in a few pigment cells 
more sensitive to light than the surrounding tissues. 
The eye is here incipient. At first it is merely capable 
of revealing differences of light and shade produced 
by bodies near at hand. Followed, as the interception 
of light is in almost all cases, by the contact of the 
closely adjacent opaque body, sight in this condition 
becomes a kind of anticipatory touch. The adjust- 
ment continues; a slight bulging out of the epidermis 
over the pigment granules supervenes. A lens is 
incipient, and, through the operation of infinite adjust- 
ments, at length reaches the perfection that it displays 
in the hawk or eagle." 

A purer piece of fiction than this never flowed 
from the tongue or pen of man. There is not a 



THE BIBLE AND EVOLUTION 413 

scientific fact within human knowledge to mark the 
various stages of the process here described, or to 
indicate that any such process ever took place. This 
fully justifies Professor Drummond, though an evolu- 
tionist himself, in referring to this theory as "the 
last romance of science, the most daring it has ever 
tried to pen." This thing of romancing in the field 
of scientific investigation is indeed a bold and daring 
matter, interesting though it may be as an intellectual 
exercise. The absurdity — apparent, at least — of the 
formation of an eye by the alleged process of evolu- 
tion, led Mr. Darwin to express himself as follows: 
''To suppose that the eye, with all its inimitable 
contrivances for adjusting the focus to different dis- 
tances, for admitting different amounts of light, and 
for the correction of spherical and chromatic aberra- 
tions, could have been formed by natural selection, 
seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest degree. 
... To arrive at a just conclusion regarding the 
formation of the eye, with all its marvelous, yet not 
absolutely perfect, characters, it is indispensable that 
the reason should conquer the imagination; but I have 
felt the difficulty far too keenly to be surprised at 
others hesitating to extend the principle of natural 
selection to so startling a length." 

But the principle must be extended to so ''startling 
a length" or wholly abandoned. If it is a true prin- 
ciple, it not only originated, developed and perfected 
the eye, but every other organ of the most highly 
organized body. And if the eye was thus developed 
by evolution, paleontology ought to show that the eye 
of some animal has undergone the modifications 
implied in the theory. Does any known fact indicate 
such modifications? Was the eye of any living animal 



414 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

ever less perfect in its remotest ancestry than it is 
now? It is true, as Mr. Darwin suggests, that our 
reason should conquer our imagination; but, in that 
event, what becomes of Professor Tyndall's ''mere 
disturbance of the chemical process in the animal 
organism," "the localization of this disturbance in 
a few pigment cells," the "formation of an incipient 
eye," the "slight bulging out of the epidermis over 
the pigment granules," and the "formation of an 
incipient lens to be perfected through the operation 
of infinite adjustments"? If we are to be governed 
by reason operating on the ground of fact and experi- 
ment, the ground of true science, these speculations 
must all be relegated to the region of the Professor's 
"scientific imagination," and denied admittance to 
the firm and high ground of scientific belief. 

Let us now examine some facts in the case. The 
eye can be traced about as far back in geological 
history as animal life itself; whereas, if it was origi- 
nated and developed according to the theory of evolu- 
tion, there would have been indefinite ages during 
which there could have been nothing but eyeless 
creatures. The trilobite existed in the primordial seas 
in early Paleozoic time, and in its various species con- 
tinued on down into the coal period. This creature 
was well organized and specialized — notably so as to 
its eye. It lived alongside of the lower forms of the 
same period, without giving the least hint that it was 
derived from them. It points back to no ancestry 
lower than itself, nor does it point forward to a pos- 
terity higher than itself. It came from nothing lower, 
and it produced nothing higher, though it must have 
lived millions of years. Concerning the eye of this 
animal, Professor Dawson says: 



THE BIBLE AND EVOLUTION 415 

"The eyes of the trilobite of the old Silurian rocks 
are fitted for the same condition with respect to light 
with those of existing animals of the same class/' 
This primitive creature from the depths of remote 
geological antiquity shows no marks of an incipient 
eye to be perfected by the imaginary process described 
by Professor Tyndall, or by any other process. Speak- 
ing within the facts, it began life with an eye as 
perfect as that of animals of the same class at the 
present time. A distinguished Bohemian scientist 
made the study of this little creature a specialty, and 
his conclusions are summed up by Professor Dawson 
as follows: ''Barrande, the great Bohemian paleon- 
tologist, has recently, in an elaborate memoir on the 
trilobites, traced these and other points through all 
their structures, and their whole succession in geolog- 
ical time, thereby elaborating a most powerful induc- 
tive argument against the theory of evolution, and 
concluding that, so far from the history of these 
creatures proving such a theory, it seems as if 
expressly contrived to exclude its possibility." 

But let us return to the theory of resident forces 
lifting life, both vegetable and animal, from lower 
to higher planes by the transmutation of species. 
The following facts are interesting and significant in 
this connection: Early in the last century a French 
gardener discovered in a bed of acacia a sprig without 
thorns. He propagated that variety from cuttings, 
and it is said that all the thornless acacias in the 
world came from that one sprig. But these acacias 
produce seed, and to this day every seed that is 
allowed to germinate produces an acacia with thorns. 
*'The domesticated hog," says Dawson, *' differs in 
many characters from the wild boar. In South Amer- 

27 



416 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

ica and the West Indies it has returned in three 
centuries or less to its original form." These and 
many similar facts show that there is present and 
active in nature a tendency to revert to primary con- 
ditions, instead of reaching upward to higher forms. 
Several years ago a series of experiments was con- 
ducted in Paris, France, in the matter of crossing 
two different species of the silk moth, in which a 
fertile hybrid was produced and propagated through 
several generations. On these experiments and their 
results Mr. Darwin bases an argument in favor of 
the transmutation of species; but he suppresses two 
important facts that sap the foundation of his argu- 
ment. On this point Professor Quatrefages has this 
to say: **In the last edition of his [Darwin's] book, 
he quotes what I have said of the cross between the 
Bombix Cjoithia and the Bombix Arrindia; he speaks 
of the number of generations obtained, but he forgets 
to mention that disordered variation appeared in the 
second generation, and that reversion to one of the 
parental types was almost complete at the termination 
of the experiment." These facts, and a thousand 
others with which every careful breeder is acquainted, 
show that nature, when left to herself, and even when 
interfered with from without, instead of leaving 
original types behind and going on to better forms, 
strongly tends to break over barriers that are thrown 
in her way, and get back to primary conditions in the 
kingdom of life. Perhaps the pigeon has been varied 
more under domestication than any other family of 
animals, as there are, I believe, about one hundred 
and fifty varieties. Yet it is said that if a flock of 
these birds, representing every known variety, be 
turned loose and allowed to propagate without artificial 



THE BIBLE AND EVOLUTION 417 

intervention, they will ultimately return to the original 
rock pigeon. 

Here it is proper to introduce an interesting and 
significant statement from no less an authority in 
science than Professor Huxley, who says: ''What is 
needed for the completion of the theory of the origin 
of species is, first, definite proof that selective 
breeding is competent to convert permanent races into 
physiologically distinct species; and, secondly, the 
elucidation of the variability." Stripped of all unnec- 
essary verbiage, this statement may be reduced to 
the following sentence: ''What is needed to substan- 
tiate the theory is the proof." This high authority, 
though an evolutionist, admits that there is no definite 
proof that the transmutation of species ever did or 
ever can take place. But the distinguished naturalist 
seems to overlook a very serious defect in his hypo- 
thetical argument. He says "selective breeding." 
But it is to be remembered that, by hypothesis, the 
process of evolution went on in the absence of intel- 
ligence to direct "selective breeding." Man himself, 
the only being in this world capable of manipulating 
intelligent "selective breeding," was a product, and 
the highest product, of these unintelligent processes; 
and with all of his intelligence and resources he has 
been able to add nothing in the way of new species. 
According to evolution, chance breeding did what 
intelligent selective breeding in the hands of the 
highest intelligence belonging to this world is unable to 
do. In my humble judgment the theory goes to pieces 
before the facts that marshal themselves against it. 

Let us now try this vaunting theory by a very 
plain and just criterion. If, in view of a given 
hypothesis, certain phenomena ought to exist, and they 



418 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

are found not to exist, there is a very strong pre- 
sumption that the theory is erroneous. According to 
evolution, the following state of facts ought to obtain : 
Lower types ought to precede and higher ones fol- 
low; and every higher type ought to begin where the 
next lower leaves off. That is, the lower members of 
a higher type ought to be as high as the highest 
members of the next lower type. A lower type ought 
to develop up to its highest capability as a type, and 
the bottom members of the succeeding and resulting 
type ought to be at the top of the preceding type. 
Evolution must move steadily forward and upward 
all the time. 

But what do we find as a matter of fact? We 
find higher and lower types existing together in the 
primordial seas, with no hint that one came from the 
other. Radiates, Mollusks and Articulates are found 
together in the earliest fossiliferous rocks, with no 
indication that a Radiate ever produced a Mollusk, 
or a Mollusk, an Articulate. And when the fourth 
and highest type — the Vertebrate — appears, it brings 
with it no indication that it sprang from a lower 
type. In this connection the following words from 
the immortal Louis Agassiz are appropriate: ''The 
Radiate begins life with characters peculiar to Radiates, 
and ends it without assuming any features of a 
higher type. The Mollusk starts with a character 
essentially its own, and in no way related to the 
Radiates, and never shows the least tendency to 
deviate from it, in the direction of either the Artic- 
ulate or Vertebrate types. This is equally true of 
the Articulates. At no stage of their growth are 
their young homologous to those of Mollusks or 
Radiates, any more than to those of Vertebrates, and 



THE BIBLE AND EVOLUTION 419 

in their final development they stand equally isolated 
from all others. . . . These results are of the highest 
importance at this moment, when men of authority 
in science are attempting to renew the theory of 
general transmutation of all animals of the higher 
types out of the lower ones. If such views are ever 
to deserve serious consideration, and be acknowledged 
as involving a scientific principle, it will only be 
when their supporters have shown that the funda- 
mental plans of structure characteristic of the primary 
groups of the animal kingdom are transmutable, or 
pass into one another, and that their different modes 
of development may lead from one to the other. 
Thus far embryology has not recorded one fact on 
which to base such doctrines.'* 

Not only do we find this state of facts at variance 
with the theory in question, but it is also true that 
every higher type starts at a plane far below that on 
which the next lower type terminates. That is, the 
lowest individuals of a higher type are much below 
the highest individuals of the next lower type. The 
highest Radiates are more highly organized and spe- 
cialized than the lowest Mollusks, though the latter 
as a type are higher than the former, and so on 
through all the types. This ought not to be, it could 
not be, if the evolutionary theory is true, unless 
there was a reversal of operation whenever there was 
a new type to be made, which is absurd. The testi- 
mony of the rocks has led Professor Dana to depose 
as follows: 

''The earliest species under a type are not neces- 
sarily the lowest. If we may trust the records, 
Echinoderms, or the highest types of Radiates, were 
represented by species . . . long before the inferior 



420 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

type of Polyps existed. . . . The highest group of 
Cryptograms, the ground Pines, were a prevailing 
form of terrestrial vegetation before there were mosses. 
There were huge Croeodilians in the world long before 
there were limbless snakes like those of the present 
world. The great Labyrinthodonts were vastly supe- 
rior in every respect to modern frogs and salaman- 
ders." 

Again: There ought to be, either among the living 
or fossil forms, a traceable chain of innumerable parts, 
joined together link by link without a break, from 
the lowest to the highest species of living things. Mr. 
Darwin says: ''So that the number of intermediate 
and transitional links between all living and extinct 
species must have been inconceivably great. But 
assuredly, if this theory be true, such have lived 
upon the earth." That such a chain has been dis- 
covered so far is not pretended by the warmest 
supporters of the evolutionary hypothesis. There are 
notable, admitted and wide gaps, at intervals, all 
along the line. Professor Guyot says: '*I know well 
the wide distance which separates inorganic from 
organic nature. I will even go further than is ordi- 
narily done, and I will say that there is an impassable 
chasm between the animal and the man. It is my 
belief that naturalists are chasing a phantom, in their 
search after some material gradation among created 
beings, by which the whole animal kingdom may have 
been derived by successive development from a single 
germ, or from a few germs." 

Let us now look at some of these gaps as seen 
by the friends of evolution themselves. Take the 
animals known as ''Chambered Shells," whose fossils 
first appear in the Cambrian rocks of Paleozoic time. 



THE BIBLE AND EVOLUTION 421 

On the introduction of these interesting creatures Pro- 
fessor Winchell discants as follows: 

**Here are the oldest examples known of this type. 
Here, we might say, was its first introduction to the 
world ; and we might begin to query how it came here. 
We should be inclined to think that it was an abrupt 
introduction, without predecessors gradually more and 
more simple as we should trace them into remoter 
ages. If an abrupt introduction, it was not an evolu- 
tion from some older form, because evolution proceeds 
by gradual transitions. Such is the conclusion of 
some scientific men; and if we were obliged to form 
a conclusion on the whole question from the facts 
connected with the first appearance of chambered 
shells, I think we should all say they did not appear 
according to the method of evolution. We must be 
candid, however, and consider all the circumstances. 
We only wish to ascertain how the facts were — not to 
make ourselves think them different from the reality. 
If chambered shells appeared according to evolution, 
that is the thing we want to know; and it would be 
a pity to make ourselves believe something not in 
accordance with God's ordination of things.'^ This 
is to pave the way for a pitiable petitio. 

This serious embarrassment to evolution Professor 
Winchell attempts to modify on the plea of the 
destruction of the earlier and less perfect fossils by 
metamorphic influences. ''We may feel confident," 
says the Professor, ''that if any shells or corals had 
been originally inclosed in the sediments, they would 
have been destroyed. Especially would carbonate of 
lime have disappeared. Therefore we are not certain 
that no chambered shells existed before the Cambrian. 
They may have existed." 



422 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

Unfortunately for this theory, that is intended to 
support a mere ''may have been,'' which in turn must 
support the evolutionist hypothesis, the Professor's 
short memory leads him to contradict the foregoing 
supposition. Having penetrated the Eozoic rocks, 
which are older than the Cambrian, in which the 
first chambered shells are found, he finds what is 
known as ''Eozoon Canadense," or the ''dawn animal 
of Canada." Scientists are not agreed as to whether 
this specimen is organic or inorganic, but this does 
not affect the point I am about to make. Dawson, 
Winchell and others have no doubt that it is an 
animal fossil. In describing it, Winchell says: "In 
the mass we notice a concentric or laminated struc- 
ture, as if the organism were formed of numerous 
layers wrapped one about the other. These layers, 
in most cases, consist alternately of serpentine and 
carbonate of lime. The serpentine, as is believed, 
occupies the place of the fleshy part of the animal, 
while the carbonate of lime is its skeleton." 

This utterly destroys the theory put forth to 
account for the absence of chambered shells older than 
those found in the Cambrian rocks. If the highly 
metamorphosed Eozoic rocks of New York, Bohemia, 
Ireland, and elsewhere, could and did preserve the 
carbonate of lime that was in the skeleton of the 
"dawn animal" and even its flesh in the serpentine 
of the fossil, surely the same could and would have 
been the case as regards the ante-Cambrian chambered 
shells, if any had existed. The fact of the preserva- 
tion of carbonate of lime in the Eozoic rocks destroys 
Professor Winchell 's "may have been," and takes 
from evolution even this vaporous foundation, and 
throws it back upon assumption. 



THE BIBLE AND EVOLUTION 423 

One of the wide and remarkable gaps along this 
line is found between Invertebrates and Vertebrates. 
Through many weary cycles did the earth march 
towards its destiny without the support of a back- 
bone, till this important member was supplied by the 
advent of a fish. This animal came into the world 
unheralded as to its most conspicuous differentiating 
member. Of this break in the geological record, Pro- 
fessor Winchell says: ''We have now stirred up all 
the old bones — the oldest bones buried on our planet— 
so far as we know. But I do not think we have 
found the first fishes yet. There must have been 
some forms still less like fishes than these. Perhaps 
if we could carry the line back, we should find fish- 
like creatures approximating more and more to crus- 
tacean creatures." 

Now, why ''must there have been some 'forms still 
less like fishes than these"? Simply and only because 
the theory of evolution demands it, and must go 
down without it; and here, as elsewhere, evolution 
most pitifully begs the question. If the oldest fishes, 
like the oldest chambered shells, came into existence 
abruptly, they did not originate by evolution, and the 
theory breaks down at this point. Certainly a theory 
whose friends can prop it up at vital points only by 
a "may have been," a "perhaps," and an "if," rests 
upon a supremely weak foundation. In this case, and 
those yet to be noticed, even metamorphic influences 
can not be invoked. 

The gap between reptiles, animals that propagate 
their kind by producing eggs, and mammals, those 
that bring forth their young alive, is a striking and 
obvious one, and should arrest the attentions of the 
student. At this point Professor Winchell says: 



424 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

*' Another triasic mammal has recently been de- 
scribed by Professor Owen, from South Africa, as 
large as a gray fox, and remarkably specialized. All 
these mammals are distinctly mammalian. They do 
not look like first attempts of nature. There is noth- 
ing transitional about them. They bring with them 
no reminiscences of reptiles, birds or fishes. If they 
had descended from humbler forms, it must have been 
by many generations, and many connecting links must 
be totally lost. If these facts were an isolated group, 
we might think these little mammals abruptly ushered 
into being; but the question receives light from so 
many directions that we must at least hesitate to 
accept that view.'' 

How the idea of abrupt introduction would be 
strengthened if these facts were an ''isolated group," 
is not apparent. It is the fact that they are not an 
''isolated group" that strengthens this view. 

In regard to the first appearance of mammals. 
Professor Le Conte says: 

''The suddenness of their appearance is very 
remarkable. In the very lowest tertiary, without 
warning and without apparent progenitors, true mam- 
mals appear in great numbers, in considerable diver- 
sity, and even of the highest order — Primates, a 
monkey tribe. Now, in Europe, where there is a 
decided break and a lost interval, this is not surpris- 
ing; but even in America, where the Laramie passes 
without break into the Tertiary, the same is true. At 
a certain level the great dinosaurs disappear, and the 
mammals take their place. A new dynasty and a new 
age commence. It is impossible to account for this 
by natural causes, unless we admit times of rapid 
progress. ' ' 



THE BIBLE AND EVOLUTION 425 

"We now come to the most interesting and impor- 
tant of these gaps — that between animals and man. 
Speaking of this break, Professor Le Conte says: 
"We have not yet been able to find any transition 
forms or connecting links between man and the high- 
est animals. The earliest known man, the river-drift 
man, though in a low state of civilization, was as thor- 
oughly human as any of us." Professor Huxley says,: 
''Neither in quarternary ages, nor at the present time, 
does any intermediary being fill the gap which sepa- 
rates man from the Troglodite. To deny the existence 
of the gap would be as reprehensible as absurd." 
Mr. Durham testifies as follows: ''It is true that no 
remains of man's progenitors have been found con- 
necting him in the far-distant past with lower ani- 
mals." Professor Winchell deposes thus: ** There is 
no structural gradation from man downward to half 
men and apes. This has sometimes been claimed, but 
the highest verdict opposes that claim. There are 
links missing between man and his mammalian prede- 
cessors. From the ape, from the horse, the deer, and 
other living types, we trace, through fossil bones, a 
gradation downward in rank, and backward in time, 
to the organisms which made their advent at the 
beginning of the Tertiary. Here is a pretty complete 
chain of being in each case, from a primitive extinct 
form, down quite to the living form: but not so with 
man. The chain is broken — the links are lost. We 
can not explain this at present. As long as the 
interval remains, we can not affirm from facts that 
man is the outcome of ordinary evolution." 

Professor Dana, of Yale, gives this testimony: '*In 
the case of man, the abruptness of transition is still 
more extraordinary, and especially because it occurs 



426 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

so near to the present time. The highest man-ape, the 
nearest allied of living species, has the capacity of 
the cranium but thirty-four cubic inches; while the 
skeleton throughout is not fitted for an erect posi- 
tion, and the fore limbs are essential to locomotion; 
but in the lowest of existing man, the capacity of the 
cranium is sixty-eight cubic inches, every bone is made 
and adjusted for the erect position, and the fore 
limbs, instead of being required in locomotion, are 
wholly taken from the ground, and have other and 
higher uses. Forty years since Schmerling found 
fossil bones of ancient man in Europe; and for the 
past fifteen years active search has gone forward for 
the missing links; and still the lowest yet found, and 
this probably not the oldest, has a cranium of seventy- 
five cubic inches capacity. Some of the oldest yet 
discovered have a large cranium and a high facial 
angle, although rude in implements and mode of life. 
No remains bear evidence of less perfect erectness of 
structure than is civilized man, or to any nearer 
approach to the man-ape in essential characteristics." 
Now let us reason for a moment upon one of the 
differences pointed out by this great and distinguished 
geologist; namely, that between the brain capacities 
of the largest man-ape skull and the smallest human 
skull. The difference is thirty-four cubic inches. On 
the hypothesis of evolution, this gap must be filled 
up by gradual and almost imperceptible gradations. 
Natura non facit saltum — ''Nature makes no leap," 
says Mr. Darwin. Now, how long would it have taken, 
and how many intermediate generations must have 
lived, to raise the capacity of the skull thirty-four 
cubic inches? Let it be supposed that each generation 
added a cubic eighth of an inch. There are sixty-four 



THE BIBLE AND EVOLUTION 427 

cubic eighths in a cubic inch, and hence sixty-four 
generations would have been necessary to add one 
cubic inch; and as the difference is thirty-four cubic 
inches, 2,176 generations would have been required 
to fill up the gap. If twenty years be allowed to the 
generation, we have 43,520 years as the time that 
would have been requisite to accomplish this task. So 
that on this basis a chain of 2,178 links is missing, 
and a period of 43,520 years is a total blank. But 
a cubic eighth of an inch would have been somewhat 
of a leap. Let the basis of calculation be reduced to 
a cubic sixteenth of an inch, which would be an 
appreciable advance. There are 4,096 cubic sixteenths 
of an inch in a cubic inch, and this would require 
4,096 generations to increase the capacity one cubic 
inch. But the difference is thirty-four cubic inches, 
and therefore 139,144 generations would be necessary 
to fill up the gap. Allowing twenty years to the 
generation, we have 2,782,880 years as the time 
requisite. On this basis a chain of 139,144 links 
is gone, and a period of 2,782,880 years is left with- 
out the sign of a record. 

Now, how do evolutionists attempt to account for 
this state of facts? According to Mr. Darwin, the 
geological record is imperfect, or, as Professor Le 
Conte puts it, there are ''lost intervals." But is it 
not somewhat remarkable that the geological record is 
imperfect, and that many and immense intervals are 
lost, just where evolution is most in need of completion? 
This very improbable assumption is essential to the 
integrity of the theory, as Mr. Darwin admits as 
follows: ''He who rejects this view of the imperfec- 
tion of the geological record will rightly reject the 
whole theory. ' ' 



428 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

That this idea of ''lost intervals'* is simply a 
convenient hiding-place in which evolutionists aim to 
take refuge from difficulties under which their theory 
must otherwise sink, is virtually confessed by Mr. 
Darwin in the following language: ''But I do not 
pretend that I would ever have suspected how poor 
was the record in the best preserved geological sec- 
tions, had not the absence of innumerable transitional 
links between the species which lived at the commence- 
ment and close of each formation pressed so heavily 
on my theory." 

In view of the facts that are now before us, the 
boldness, not to say recklessness, of no less a distin- 
guished man than Professor Haeckel, that is displayed 
in the following language, is almost marvelous: "The 
human race is a branch of the catarrhine group; he 
was developed in the Old World, and sprang from 
apes of this group, which has long been extinct.'* 
Notwithstanding the fact that this assertion is made 
with all the confidence, apparently, that could char- 
acterize the statement of the plainest historical mat- 
ters, there is not a shred of scientific evidence, in the 
shape of fact, to sustain it. 

In tracing man's genealogy through the mazes of 
evolutionist speculation, Haeckel finds an amphibious 
animal in the line, which he calls the "Sozoura," of 
which he says: "The proof of its existence arises from 
the necessity of an intermediate type between the 
thirteenth and fourteenth stages." That is, the theory 
demands it, and therefore it is proved! Mr. Durham, 
having admitted the gap, accounts for the lost interval 
between animals and man as follows: "But this is 
not to be wondered at when we consider that the 
place of his origin was in all probability the vast 



THE BIBLE AND EVOLUTION 429 

upland plains of Asia, which have never been 
explored by the geologist.'' On the contrary, Pro- 
fessor Winchell says: "It is now generally admitted 
that man's birth was in a region covered at present 
by the waters of the Indian Ocean." This is also 
Haeckel's view, and it is much safer than that of 
Durham, because the geologist can not explore the 
bottom of the Indian Ocean! 

Professor Dana bears this testimony against these 
rash assumptions: **The existing man-apes belong to 
lines that reach up to them as their ultimatum; but 
of that line which is supposed to have reached upward 
to man, not the first link below the lowest level of 
existing man has yet been found. This is the more 
extraordinary in view of the fact that, from the lowest 
limit in existing men, there are all possible grada- 
tions up to the highest; while, below that limit, there 
is an abrupt fall to the ape level, in which the cubic 
capacity of the brain is one-half less. If the links 
ever existed, their annihilation without a relic is so 
extremely improbable that it may be pronounced 
impossible. Until some are found, science can not 
assert that they ever existed." 

In view of preceding premises, we are enabled, I 
think, to see the justness and wisdom of the conclu- 
sion reached by Professor Quatrefages in a most 
powerful and lucid argument on and against evolu- 
tion. Speaking of those conservative scientists who 
seek to make sure of their footing by keeping on the 
solid ground of fact, experiment and observation, he 
says: "But when they meet with questions the solu- 
tion of which is at present impossible, and will per- 
haps always be so, they have not hesitated to answer: 
We do not know; and when they find purely rneta* 



430 SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 

physical theories are being imposed upon them, they 
have protested in the name of experiment and observa- 
tion. I venture to say that I have always remained 
faithful to the ranks of this phalanx, to which the 
future distinctly belongs. For this reason, to those 
who question me upon the problem of our origin, I 
do not hesitate to answer in the name of science: / 
do not know,'' The reason he says he does not know 
is that he rejects the Bible account of the origin of 
man. 

I believe that, in view of known facts and just 
reasoning, the conclusion that man did not originate 
according to the theory of evolution is inevitable, 
and, this being the case, the Bible account of our 
origin by direct creation holds the field. 

Turning now from these romances of scientists, let 
us give reverent attention to the statements of the 
'*old Book" on the subject: ''And God said. Let us 
make man in our image, after our likeness. . . . And 
God created man in his own image, in the image of 
God created he him; male and female created he 
them. . . . And the Lord God formed man of the 
dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the 
breath of life ; and man became a living soul. . . . And 
the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, 
and he slept; and he took one of his ribs, and closed 
up the flesh instead thereof: and the rib, which the 
Lord God had taken from the man, made he a woman, 
and brought her unto the man." This harmonizes 
with Paul's declaration that **Adam was first formed, 
then Eve," and these plain statements positively set 
aside the dreamy speculations of evolution. Here 
are the two contradictory theories — ^let the man of 
both reason and faith choose between them. 



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